THE  LIGHT  HEART 

MAURICE : HEWLETT 


LIBRARY 


V 


ITYOF 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  WEG 
LA  JOLLA,  CALIFORNIA 


THE  LIGHT  HEART 


BY 

MAURICE  HEWLETT 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 
1920 


Copyright,  iojo 

by 

HENRY   HOLT  AND  COMPANY 


gjj  Ontnn  A  gotten   €tmptmf 

BOOK      MANUFACTURERS 
RAHWAV  N«W     JERSEY 


PREFACE 

Of  this  heroic,  naked  story,  three  fragments  sur- 
vive in  Origines  Islandicce,  that  learned  repository; 
but  to  compound  one  plain  tale  of  them  it  has  been 
necessary  to  go  for  the  catastrophe  to  the  Saga  of 
King  Olaf.  As  a  result  of  my  hunting  and  piecing 
I  am  able  to  give  an  orderly  account  of  the  life  of 
a  young  man  which,  I  think,  justifies  the  title  I  have 
given  it.  Thormod  indeed  had  a  light  heart,  and 
a  high  heart.  Acting  upon  an  unwritten  law,  which 
(if  it  were  not  an  instinct)  must  be  called  a  moral 
law,  inasmuch  as  it  swayed  the  Northmen's  nature 
to  the  very  roots,  he  feared  nothing  except  love,  and 
dared  everything  for  love's  sake.  Very  heroic  was 
his  daring;  very  beautiful,  to  me  at  least,  was  the 
transfer  of  his  allegiance  from  his  dead  friend  Thor- 
gar  to  the  live  King  Olaf,  made  lightheartedly  upon 
a  moment's  impulse,  but  when  made,  made  for  life. 
If  I  can  claim  anything  for  myself  as  the  interpreter 

y 


vi  PREFACE 

to  modern  readers  of  a  bygone  day,  it  is  to  have 
brought  up  from  the  depths  of  an  old  tale  this  ex- 
ample of  swift  and  final  self -surrender  in  obedience 
to  an  intuition ;  not  merely  to  have  handed  it  on,  but 
to  have  revealed  it 

It  is  by  such  facts  as  those  that  Thormod  must 
be  adjudged  poet,  for  of  the  two  poems  by  which 
he  obtained  his  recognition  nothing  survives.  I  don't 
regret  the  lay  which  earned  him  his  title  of  Coal- 
brow's  Poet,  because  it  is  pretty  clear  that  he  did 
not  take  Coalbrow  seriously.  We  may  infer  from 
that  the  nature  of  the  poem.  That  cannot  be  a  very 
sincere  utterance  which  can  be  improvised  into  an 
address  to  another  person.  A  poem  of  conceits,  I 
take  it  to  have  been,  not  unlike  the  affair  which 
called  it  forth.  Thormod  was  no  hand  with 
women;  the  story  puts  that  beyond  doubt.  They 
were  his  pastime;  he  gave  his  fancy  to  them  for 
a  while,  reserving  his  heart  for  men.  On  that  ac- 
count his  lament  for  Thorgar  must  be  reckoned  a 
real  loss  to  Icelandic  literature.  It  would  have  been 
a  great  thing  to  have  had  it  beside  David's  for  Jon- 
athan, Milton's  for  Edward  King;  beside  Adonais 


PREFACE  vii 

too,  and  In  Memoriam.  It  has  gone,  however,  and 
it  was  not  for  me  to  dare  a  substitute.  In  my  ver- 
sion of  Kormak's  Saga,  where  I  paraphrased  many 
of  the  hero's  poems,  I  had  in  any  case  something  to 
go  upon.    Here  there  is  nothing. 

In  the  shaping  of  The  Light  Heart  I  have  had 
to  contend  with  that  formidable  fact  that  the  story 
splits  in  two  in  the  middle.  It  has  two  endings — 
the  consummation  of  the  vengeance  for  Thorgar, 
and  that  of  the  second  love-affair  of  Thormod's  life. 
There  is  no  coherence  possible  between  these  two 
parts  except  such  as  may  be  gained  from  the  nature 
of  the  hero  of  both.  To  my  mind  a  good  deal  can 
be  gained  that  way;  and  I  believe  that  the  title  I 
have  bestowed  upon  the  book,  which  makes  Thormod 
the  subject  of  it  rather  than  Thormod's  deeds,  is 
justified  on  that  ground  alone,  if  on  no  other.  Every 
story  which  is  worth  the  name,  which  is  not  a  mere 
anecdote,  or  string  of  anecdotes,  but  has  a  reasonable 
soul  in  human  words  subsisting,  embodies  either  a 
moral  idea  or  a  personality. 

You  may  write  round  either  without  denying 
yourself  the  help  of  the  other ;  but  one  or  the  other 


viii  PREFACE 

will  be  substance,  one  or  the  other  accident.  Thus 
the  Iliad  is  written  about  an  idea,  which  character 
subserves ;  but  the  Odyssey  is  written  about  a  char- 
acter, and  the  idea  in  it  is  the  idea  of  Odysseus. 
So  it  is  with  the  Sagas  of  Iceland.  Njala,  which, 
like  Thormod,  breaks  into  two  parts,  is  composed 
round  about  ideas,  to  which  Gunnar  of  Lithaid  and 
Njal  himself  are  subject.  But  Thormod  has  char- 
acter for  its  core,  and  the  moral  idea  of  sworn 
brotherhood  and  its  implications,  which  only  lasts 
halfway  through  the  piece,  seems  to  me  to  be  tacked 
on  to  the  personality  of  the  hero.  The  reader  who 
wishes  to  satisfy  himself  that  I  am  right  about  all 
this,  should  compare  the  treatment  of  a  blood- feud 
here  with  that  of  the  Saga  of  Gisli  Surssan,  which 
I  have  paraphrased  as  The  Outlaw. 

I  have  called  The  Light  Heart  a  story  both 
heroic  and  naked,  and  might  say  a  word  about 
the  second  of  those  epithets.  Romantic  litera- 
ture has  always  concerned  itself  with  clothes,  that 
is,  atmosphere;  but  it  is  a  foolish  criticism  which 
tries  to  confine  classicism  and  romanticism  within 
enclosing  dates.    The  Iliad  has  practically  no  atmos- 


PREFACE  ix 

phere,  the  Odyssey  has  a  great  deal.  I  don't  know 
of  any  Saga  which  can  properly  be  called  romantic; 
yet  out  of  the  same  country  and  age  comes  a  lay 
like  Halgi  and  Sigrim,  which  is  drenched  in  atmos- 
pheric glamour.  The  difference  is  by  no  means  one 
of  means  alone;  it  is  obvious  that  the  writer  of 
the  Saga  and  poet  of  the  lay  are  looking  at  their 
matter  through  different  eyes.  The  Saga-man  never 
for  a  moment  forgot  that  he  was  an  historian.  He 
was  telling  of  real  people  to  their  descendants  of  a 
few  generations;  he  was  telling  of  them  within  a 
few  miles  of  where  the  deeds  he  related  actually 
occurred.  He  was  telling  a  plain  tale  to  men  who 
would  have  been  scandalised  by  any  other.  The 
things  laid  to  his  heroes  would  have  been  done  in 
the  same  fashion  by  his  hearers ;  it  would  have  out- 
raged their  sensibilities  to  have  enhanced  such  deeds 
by  rhetoric,  just  as  it  would  have  been  ridiculous 
in  him  to  have  described  picturesquely  what  they 
knew  as  well  as,  or  better  than,  he  did.  But  scene- 
painting  is  a  modern  embellishment  of  literature, 
and  I  have  been  careful  to  avoid  anything  more  than 
an  indication  of  the  landscape  in  which,  for  instance, 


*  PREFACE 

the  desperate  dealings  of  Thormod  with  his  fellow- 
creatures  were  enacted. 

Atmosphere  then,  landscape-painting,  purple 
shreds  and  patches,  are  not  in  my  original,  nor 
to  be  looked  for  here.  But  the  nakedness  of  the 
Sagas  goes  far  beyond  those  accessories  of  tale- 
telling,  to  such  lengths  indeed  that  I  have  painted 
by  the  roadside.  They  omit,  as  I  have  found, 
things  which  are  essential  to  a  tale  for  modern 
understanding;  and  the  chief  of  these  things  is 
human  nature.  The  secret  springs  of  conduct — 
instinct,  emotion,  passion — are  scarcely  hinted  at. 
Character  itself  must  be  inferred.  All  this  is  too 
excellent  and  wonderful  for  me.  As  I  have  said 
once  before,  the  Sagas  are  of  all  classics  "  the 
most  unapproachable."  "  Their  frugality  freezes 
the  soul;  they  are  laconic  to  baldness."  Finally, 
I  have  admitted  that  "  the  starkness  of  the  Sagas 
shocks  me."  It  can  only  be  some  such  astringency 
in  them  which  has  denied  them  popularity  in  such 
a  nation  as  ours  which  worships  heroism,  as  well 
it  may,  and  extremely  dislikes  any  display  of  it. 
It  is  that  astringency  which  I  have  been  at  pains 


PREFACE  xi 

to  soften  by  a  few  lines  of  dialogue,  by  an  aside 
of  my  own,  by  a  comment  here  and  there,  or  by  a 
deliberate  evocation  of  character-outline.  One  has 
to  create  the  illusion  of  reality  when  one  is  ad- 
dressing an  audience  to  whom  the  people  of  the 
tale  and  their  environment  alike  are  strange  and 
uncouth.  Neither  a  nod  nor  a  wink  is  any  encour- 
agement to  a  blind  horse;  but  an  apple  at  his  nose, 
or  an  ashplant  on  his  quarters  may  do  much  for 
him.  Certainly  it  is  not  the  fault  of  my  readers 
if  they  are  blind  to  the  merits  of  the  Sagas,  as  they 
may  be  extracted  from  Origines  Islandicce.  Those 
learned  tomes  were  not  printed  for  the  likes  of 
them.  Very  gingerly  and  with  all  due  respect, 
therefore,  I  have  applied  encouragement  or  stimulus 
as  the  case  may  be,  and  seemed  to  require;  but  I 
hope  I  have  in  no  case  done  violence  either  to  the 
person  of  my  reader,  or  the  dignity  of  my  original. 
I  have  never  presumed  to  invent  incident — that  be 
far  from  me.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  taken 
leave  to  account  for  it.  Nothing  that  I  could  have 
done  would  have  added  a  cubit  to  the  stature  of 
Saint  Olaf,  or  embellished  the  swift  and  salient 


xu  PREFACE 

outline  of  young  Thormod.  It  has  rather  been  a 
case  of  fitting  myself  to  see  them  as  the  Saga-man 
showed  them  to  his  kindred.  If  in  so  doing  I  have 
cleared  other  English  eyes,  why,  then  I  have  done 
something. 

Broadchalke, 
October  n,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

PACI 

Chapter  I 3 

Chapter  II 12 

Chapter  III 18 

Chapter  IV              24 

Chapter  V 28 

Chapter  VI 37 

Chapter  VII .,      .  44 

Chapter  VIII 53 

Chapter  IX 61 

Chapter  X 73 

Chapter  XI 81 

Chapter  XII 97 

Chapter  XIII 104 

Chapter  XIV in 

Chapter  XV 116 

Chapter  XVI 124 

Chapter  XVII 132 

Chapter  XVIII             141 

Chapter  XIX 154 

Chapter  XX 160 

Chapter  XXI 174 


THE  LIGHT  HEART 


Thormod  was  the  name  of  a  man  known  after- 
wards as  Coalbrow's  Poet,  though  nobody  had 
known  that  he  was  a  poet  until  he  met  with  Coal- 
brow,  and  least  of  all  had  he  known  it  himself. 
But  from  what  I  can  find  out  about  him  his  poetry 
was  in  him  from  the  beginning.  He  had  the  poet's 
way  of  thinking  rather  than  of  doing,  that  knack 
of  working  out  the  ways  of  a  deed  so  fully  in  the 
mind  that  when  the  time  comes  to  do  it,  it  seems 
already  done,  and  done  with :  wherefore  you  simply 
leave  it  undone.  Another  trick  he  had,  which  be- 
trays his  quality.  He  always  viewed  himself  and 
his  actions,  himself  with  his  friends,  or  with  his 
family,  as  if  his  thinking  self  were  no  part  of  him- 
self. He  was  intensely  curious  about  his  own  ac- 
tions, and  for  ever  asking  his  great  friend  Thorgar 
how  the  things  they  did  together  struck  him,  so 
that  he  himself  might  get  a  clearer  view  of  them, 

3 


4  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

or  another  view.  And  one  more  thing  about  him, 
to  my  mind  very  significantly  his  quality.  He 
would  never,  for  his  life,  surprise  Thorgar,  come 
upon  him  unawares.  Sooner  than  do  that  he  would 
not  see  him  at  all ;  and  as  he  saw  him  nearly  every 
day,  he  was  often  at  great  pains  to  warn  him  of 
the  exact  time  of  his  approach.  If  everything  else 
failed  he  would  stand  well  out  of  sight,  and  shout, 
"Ho,  Thorgar!"  until  he  heard  the  answer  come 
back  which  he  could  recognize  as  Thorgar' s  voice. 
He  found  himself  out  in  this  queer  trick  one  day 
by  accident,  and  thereafter  never  rested  till  he  had 
got  to  the  bottom  of  it.  He  was  afraid  that 
Thorgar  might  be  different;  he  was  afraid  that 
he  might  catch  Thorgar  doing  something,  or  look- 
ing like  something,  which  would  prove  that  he 
had  never  known  Thorgar — that  is,  the  real 
Thorgar;  for  he  felt  sure  that  the  real  you  was 
only  visible  when  you  were  alone,  or  believed  your- 
self so.  Now  he  loved  Thorgar  so  much,  and  knew 
that  he  did,  saw  himself  daily,  hourly,  loving  Thor- 
gar so  utterly  that  he  simply  dared  not  risk  the 
chance  of  surprising  a  different  Thorgar.     When 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  5 

he  knew  all  this  he  told  Thorgar  about  it,  of  course. 
And  Thorgar  laughed. 

"  I  thought  you  were  a  queer  fish,"  he  said,  "  but 
not  that  you  were  so  queer  as  that." 

Thormod  said,  "  You  surely  see  what  I  am  afraid 
of — and  why  I  am  afraid  of  it?" 

"  But  I  do  not,"  said  Thorgar.  Thormod 
frowned. 

"You  see,"  he  said,  "you  are  my  greatest 
friend." 

"  Granted." 

"You  are  only  my  friend  because  I  love  what 
you  are." 

"Well ?" 

"Well — but  if  you  were  different  I  might  not 
love  you  at  all." 

Thorgar's  eyes  flashed.  He  had  got  hold  of 
something  at  last.  "  Yes — but  you  might,  on  the 
other  hand,  love  me  more."  And  he  insisted  upon 
arguing  about  that,  which  to  Thormod's  mind  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  it.  So  Thormod  had 
to  give  up  talking  about  it  at  all,  but  did  not  cease 
giving  notice  of  his  approach.    So  it  happened  that 


6  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

he  met,  quite  by  accident,  with  the  happiest  moment 
of  his  life,  a  moment  which  he  never  forgot. 

Thormod  was  perhaps  a  year  older  than  Thorgar ; 
but  Thorgar  took  the  lead  in  most  of  their  esca- 
pades from  the  time  when  they  were  boys  until 
the  age  of  manhood.  After  that  Thormod's  mind 
outran  Thorgar's  and  dominated  it.  They  were 
much  of  a  height,  but  Thorgar  was  the  stouter,  and 
in  constitution  the  tougher  of  them.  In  looks  they 
were  very  different.  Thorgar  had  a  high  colour, 
straight,  dense  brown  hair,  blue  eyes.  He  was 
not  very  good-looking,  for  his  teeth  showed  too 
much ;  he  was  rough  and  graceless ;  he  had  no  pity ; 
but  he  was  quite  without  fear.  Thormod  was  all 
black  and  white.  He  had  black  and  curly  hair, 
black  eyes,  or  rather  yellow  eyes,  which  looked  black 
when  the  pupils  dilated,  as  they  always  did  in  cer- 
tain lights.  He  was  often  pale  in  the  face,  some- 
times burnt  brown  by  the  sun,  but  never  red.  He 
had  a  good  straight  nose,  a  sharp  chin  with  a  dimple 
in  it,  a  good  mouth  with  very  red  lips.  When  he 
smiled  few  girls  could  resist  him.  He  stammered 
a  little — and  girls  liked  that  too.    He  did  not  find 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  7 

out  his  powers  with  women  until  he  was  eighteen 
or  thereabouts,  but  when  he  did  he  made  as  much 
use  of  them  as  his  countryside  afforded,  and  began 
to  take  himself  seriously  as  a  lover.  Presently  he 
found  that  he  was  taking  himself  seriously  every 
time  he  met  with  an  attractive  girl,  and  from  that 
time  on  he  was  less  serious.  It  struck  him  as  comi- 
cal, and  therefore  he  ceased  to  consider  himself  in 
love;  but  he  did  not  by  any  means  cease  to  enjoy 
girls'  society. 

The  truth  was,  he  told  himself,  his  friendship 
with  Thorgar  was  too  serious  a  matter  to  allow 
any  room  for  a  great  love-affair.  That,  in  all  its 
phases,  absorbed  him.  He  took  it  much  harder 
than  Thorgar  did;  but  Thorgar  was  as  clear  as 
water  in  summer,  and  always  the  same — therefore 
there  was  no  risk  of  any  of  the  ridiculous  mis- 
understandings, tiffs,  jealousies,  suspicions  which 
are  always  heading  up  love-affairs  with  girls — dam- 
ming them  like  brooks,  until  the  current  swells  over 
the  obstruction  and  runs  boiling  and  foaming  for 
a  time,  carrying  everything  before  it.  That  was  the 
glory  of  friendship;  it  was  a  state  of  peace  and  trust. 


8  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

But  he  did  not  realise  how  intensely  he  loved  Thor- 
gar until  he  ran  the  risk  of  losing  him  altogether. 

That  happened  when  he  was  twenty  years  old, 
and  Thorgar,  maybe,  nineteen.  It  was  high  sum- 
mer, and  they  had  gone  off  together  to  the  cliffs 
at  the  Horn  to  get  angelica.  The  pipy  stalks  of 
the  plant  make  a  good  sweetmeat,  and  the  best  ones 
come  from  the  Horn  where  the  cliffs  are  sheer  over 
the  sea :  a  wild  and  dangerous  place,  the  extreme 
north-west  of  Iceland.  Below  the  edge  of  the  cliff, 
a  man's  height  down,  there  was  a  grassy  shelf 
where  the  angelica  grew  finest.  Thorgar  let  him- 
self down  to  that  dangerous  place,  and  what  he 
cut  of  the  stuff  he  passed  up  to  Thormod  on  the 
brink. 

Thormod,  with  an  armful,  was  away  for  a  few 
minutes,  bearing  it  out  of  the  wind  to  the  shelter 
where  they  had  left  their  cloaks  and  weapons. 
While  he  was  away  the  scree  on  which  the  angelica 
grew  gave  way  under  Thorgar,  who  slipped  off  the 
shelf  and,  had  he  not  caught  hold  of  a  plant  close 
to  the  root,  he  must  have  dropped  to  the  sea,  some 
sixty  fathoms  below  him.     There  he  hung,  while 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  9 

Thorraod,  in  no  sort  of  hurry,  sat  himself  down  on 
the  cliff,  clasped  his  hands  about  his  shins  and 
watched  the  wheeling  birds  or  the  seals  far  off  on 
the  rocks,  or  the  weather.  By  and  by,  without  stir- 
ring from  his  place,  he  called  out  to  his  friend,  "  Ho, 
there — are  you  never  coming?  You  must  have 
enough  by  now." 

Thorgar's  voice  sounded  far  and  faint.  "  I  guess 
I  shall  have  enough  by  the  time  I  have  pulled  this 
one  up." 

Thormod  did  not  hear  what  he  said,  though  he 
heard  him  speak.  He  got  up  slowly  and  went  to 
the  edge  to  look  over.  Then  he  saw  Thorgar's  hand, 
and  nothing  else  of  him.  His  first  shock  was  that 
he  was  seeing  Thorgar  unawares,  and  the  concern 
of  that  occupied  him  for  a  full  minute.  Then,  all 
at  once,  he  saw  his  instant  danger,  and  grew  grey 
in  the  face. 

In  a  moment  he  had  dropped  over  the  edge  on  to 
the  shelf,  threw  himself  flat  and  caught  Thorgar 
by  the  wrist.  As  he  hauled  him  up  the  angelica 
root  broke  away  from  the  scree.  He  brought  him 
safely  to  bank,  however,  and  sat  down  to  recover 


io  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

himself.  He  was  still  grey- faced,  and  trembling; 
but  Thorgar  was  not  in  any  respect  moved  by  his 
experience.  Thormod  could  not  speak  for  some 
time.  Then  he  said,  "  What  were  you  thinking 
of  when  I  saw  your  hand,  and  nothing  else  of 
you?" 

Thorgar  said,  "  I  don't  know  when  you  did  see 
my  hand." 

"  I  saw  it  a  minute  before  I  caught  hold  of  you." 

"  Oh — well,  I  expect  I  was  wondering  how  long 
it  would  be  before  the  root  came  away." 

"  Were  you  not  thinking,  where  shall  I  be  after- 
wards?" 

"  No,  indeed." 

"Don't  you  want  to  know  that?" 

"  No.     It  is  nothing  to  me." 

"  It  is  much  to  me,"  Thormod  said ;  "  but  I  never 
thought  about  it  till  I  saw  your  hand." 

On  the  way  home  Thormod  proposed  that  they 
should  swear  that  either  of  them  should  avenge  the 
death  of  the  other;  and  Thorgar  agreed.  They 
swore  it  with  lifted  hands,  and  afterwards  shook 
hands  upon  it.     They  were  Christian  in  Iceland 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  u 

at  the  time,  but  only  newly  so,  and  not  very  much 
so.  They  were  Christian  enough,  however,  to  for- 
bear any  more  ceremony  than  they  made.  There 
should  have  been  a  turf-girdle  lifted,  under  which 
they  should  have  crawled.  They  should  have  each 
let  blood  from  the  arm,  and  mixed  it  with  the  earth 
under  the  turf-girdle.  But  those  things  were  left 
out  when  they  swore  their  friendship. 

It  is  not  certain  how  far  Thorgar  was  playing 
at  a  heathen  pact,  how  far  he  merely  lent  himself 
to  Thormod's  mood,  as  he  thought  it.  But  he 
was  wrong  there.  It  was  no  mood  of  Thormod's 
at  all,  but  an  outcome  of  his  whole  nature.  It  was 
a  dedication  of  his  life  to  an  idea. 


II 


These  two  young  men,  perfectly  happy  in  them- 
selves and  in  each  other,  were  not  liked  in  their 
country.  It  was  a  country  where  life  was  hard, 
where  winter  was  long  and  summer  short,  where 
stormy  weather  for  weeks  together  stopped  the  fish- 
ing, where  you  might  be  at  your  wits'  end  how  to 
keep  the  stock  alive  until  the  grass  began  to  grow. 
But  Thorgar  and  Thormod  had  no  heed  for  all 
this.  They  did  very  little  work,  and  (as  it  seemed) 
could  only  be  amused  if  their  neighbours  did  as 
little. 

And  they  were  high-spirited,  and  Thorgar  at 
least  inclined  to  be  quarrelsome.  He  was  known 
to  have  killed  his  man — at  a  horse-fight  it  had  been 
done,  in  a  sudden  tempest  of  rage.  He  had  rushed 
at  him,  with  a  great  stone  in  both  his  hands,  lifted 
it  and  brought  it  down  on  the  top  of  his  head. 
There  had  been  a  great  stir,  although  the  man  was 

12 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  13 

only  a  thrall.  His  father  had  paid  weregild,  and 
the  thing  had  quieted  down.  Thorgar  had  gone 
south  for  a  season,  and  Thormod  with  him.  They 
had  stayed  with  a  man  called  Thorgils  at  Reek-hill ; 
those  two  with  a  huge  man  of  great  fame,  Grette 
by  name,  Grette  the  Strong.  There  had  been  fine 
doings  all  the  winter  they  were  there — games,  hunt- 
ing, battles  on  the  ice  and  what-not.  Thormod  and 
Thorgar  together  were  almost  a  match  for  Grette. 
Thorgils  was  fond  of  talking  about  it  afterwards. 
'He  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he  had  housed  that 
winter  the  three  bravest  men  in  all  Iceland;  but 
once,  when  he  had  said  it,  he  was  challenged.  Did 
they  then  fear  nothing?  Why,  yes,  he  said,  two 
of  them  did.  Grette,  he  said,  was  afraid  of  the 
dark,  and  Thormod  was  afraid  of  God;  but  as 
for  Thorgar,  there  was  nothing  here  or  elsewhere 
that  he  was  afraid  of;  and  "  I  never  saw  him  show 
a  sign  of  fear  at  any  sudden  danger  he  might  fall 
in  with." 

Thorgar  was  clear  about  the  future.  He  would 
sail  the  seas,  visit  King  Olaf,  and  if  there  was  fight- 
ing to  be  done,  he  would  fight.     When  they  got 


14  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

upon  this  topic  Thormod  always  felt  a  black  hu- 
mour seize  upon  him.  He  too  desired  to  travel,  but 
fighting  made  no  call  for  his  ears.  He  was  the 
happier  of  the  two  in  the  friendship.  He  often 
thought  about  it,  and  whenever  he  did  he  felt  his 
heart  beat  the  faster.  Thorgar  took  it  for  granted, 
and  did  not  think  about  it  at  all.  Nor  did  it  sway 
his  ambition,  nor  interfere  with  his  plans.  But 
it  coloured  the  whole  of  Thormod's  outlook;  he 
would  not  consider  of  a  life  in  which  it  did  not 
take  the  chief  part.  So  he  did  not  care  to  talk 
of  the  future  for  fear  that  Thorgar  should  make 
too  free.  But  Thorgar  made  very  free,  and  as  he 
grew  stronger  and  older  would  always  discuss  the 
future.  The  more  he  talked  the  grimmer  grew 
Thormod;  and  it  did  not  make  him  the  less  grim 
that  he  knew  he  was  dishonouring  friendship  by 
treating  it  with  the  petulance  of  a  love-affair.  That 
knowledge  made  him  cross.  He  said  to  himself, 
A  friendship  that  is  in  danger  is  a  friendship  lost 
already.  In  a  sort  of  sense,  then,  he  was  prepared 
for  what  was  coming. 

I  don't  know  whether  Thorgar  made  any  prepa- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  15 

rations  for  going  abroad,  or  whether  he  acted  on 
impulse.  If  it  came  to  him  suddenly,  it  came  on  the 
doing  of  Thormod,  who,  having  conceived  the  pos- 
sibility, was  impatient  until  he  knew  the  worst. 
What  exactly  happened  was  this.  The  pair  of  them 
were  riding  one  day  in  early  summer  eastwards 
along  Gilsfirth,  which  is  the  extremity  of  Broad- 
firth.  They  rode  on  the  shore  below  the  cliffs,  and 
were  in  a  hurry  to  pass  the  Drifta,  which  is  a  great 
headland  and  impassable  at  high  water,  before  the 
tide  caught  them.  Thorgar  was  in  high  spirits,  put 
his  horse  to  a  gallop,  and  outdistanced  his  friend. 
Presently  he  reined  up  and  looked  back,  flushed 
and  laughing,  while  Thormod  came  up  with  him. 
Then  they  rode  on  together,  Thormod  a  little  put 
out  by  the  bustle  and  his  beating.  Thorgar  said, 
"  I  beat  you  fairly,  yet  the  pace  you  made  would 
have  foundered  anybody  else." 

Thormod  said  nothing,  but  Thorgar  went  on. 
"  Now  I  should  like  to  know  if  there  are  two  others 
the  like  of  us,  young  men,  sworn  brothers,  in  all 
Iceland.     What  do  you  say?" 

Thormod  said,  "Why  not?     Iceland  is  a  large 


16  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

country.  Look  far  enough  into  it  and  you  will  find 
all  sorts." 

"  Never,"  cried  Thorgar.  "  Not  in  all  Iceland, 
at  least.  Norway,  Denmark,  I  don't  say — but  not 
Iceland."  Then  he  was  quiet,  looking  at  the  rising 
tide,  which  was  already  up  to  the  horses' 
knees.  They  were  close  to  the  cliff  by  now,  and 
could  see  the  breaking  waves  lipping  at  the 
rocks. 

"  Now  tell  me  this,"  he  said,  looking  saucily 
at  Thormod,  who  was  frowning;  "tell  me  this. 
If  you  and  I  were  put  to  it,  which  of  us  do  you 
think  would  come  off  the  better  man?  " 

It  was  an  unwise  question,  because  he  had  just 
outpaced  his  friend.  Thormod  grew  angry.  "  I 
don't  know,"  he  said  hotly,  "  but  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  do  know,  that  your  question  breaks  up  our 
ride  together." 

Thorgar,  who  was  ahead  again,  with  the  water 
over  his  knees  and  up  to  his  horse's  shoulder, 
laughed  and  waved  his  hand,  without  looking  back. 
Thormod  had  reined  up  and  was  watching  him. 
Before  he  rounded  the  cliff  Thorgar  looked  back. 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  17 

"  Come  on,  man,"  he  called  out.  "  You  must  swim 
for  it." 

Thormod  heard  him.  "I  am  not  coming,"  he 
shouted.  "  Farewell  and  good  fortune !  "  Then  he 
turned  and  rode  west,  and  on  to  Bathbow,  where 
his  father  lived.  He  did  not  know  then  that  he 
should  never  see  Thorgar  again,  but  as  winter  suc- 
ceeded winter  without  news,  he  became  reconciled 
to  it.  It  was  two  years  certainly  before  he  heard 
from  some  seafarer  that  Thorgar  had  gone  abroad. 

By  that  time  he  was  involved  in  other  affairs, 
and  his  friendship  of  twenty  years  had  taken  the 
place  of  a  sacred  memory.  He  never  forgot  Thor- 
gar, and  had  no  bitterness  at  all  in  his  memories 
of  him.  It  all  showed  clear  and  beautiful  and 
far-off,  like  an  island  in  the  sea  full  in  the  sun, 
when  the  mainland  is  heavy  with  cloud  and  driving 
rain.  There  was  no  fear  that  he  would  ever  fail  in 
his  oath.  In  fact,  it  was  always  before  him,  like  a 
career.  He  had  no  other  in  prospect,  and  it  seemed 
to  him  as  good  as  any.  But  it  did  not  prevent  him 
from  amusing  himself.  He  fell  more  than  usually 
in  love,  and  found  out  that  he  was  a  poet. 


Ill 


But  I  must  deal  first  with  Thorgar,  who  held  on 
his  way  along  Gilsfirth,  making  his  road  into 
Sowerby.  It  was  in  Swinedale  down  there  that 
he  expected  to  come  up  with  some  friends  of  his, 
Luge  and  Thorgils,  who,  with  a  company,  were 
meaning  to  take  ship  in  Midfirth.  That  had  been 
the  intention  also  of  Thormod. 

He  rode  on  briskly  to  the  head  of  the  firth,  then 
up  a  narrow  dale  and  out  into  the  open  country, 
without  seeing  anything  of  the  men  he  was  looking 
for;  and  presently  he  came  to  a  homestead  called 
Marswell,  where  meadows  sloped  down  to  a  river, 
and  he  could  see  a  man  working  his  way  up  to 
the  house  with  a  load  of  rushes  on  his  back.  That 
man's  name  was  Torve,  but  Thorgar  neither  knew 
nor  cared  what  his  name  was.  He  got  within  hail- 
ing distance  across  the  river  and  shouted  to  him. 
No  answer.     He  trotted  forward,  still  calling;  he 

18 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  19 

called  several  times,  but  had  no  answer.  The  fact 
was  that  Torve  didn't  hear  him.  The  wind  was 
pretty  fresh  and  whistling  in  the  rushes  on  his 
back.  But  again  Thorgar  neither  knew  nor  cared. 
He  was  very  angry,  and  to  go  on  shouting,  as  he 
did,  made  him  furious.  He  spurred  forward  in  a 
fume,  crossed  the  river,  overtook  Torve,  and  drove 
his  spear  clean  through  his  back.  The  man 
dropped  in  a  heap,  with  the  rushes  all  over  his 
head.     Thorgar  rode  on  along  the  river. 

That  was  the  kind  of  young  man  he  was,  careless 
of  his  own  life  and  careless  of  other  men's.  He 
thought  no  more  of  Torve  at  all,  being  set  on  find- 
ing his  friends.  It  was  well  past  noon  when  he 
came  up  with  them,  and  told  them  what  a  chase 
they  had  led  him.  "Why,"  he  said,  "I  had  to 
kill  a  man  before  I  could  get  at  you."  They  stared 
at  him,  and  then  it  all  came  out.  He  had  no  praise 
from  them  for  the  deed;  he  found  them,  on  the 
contrary,  cool  with  him,  got  in  a  pet  again  and 
refused  to  stop  at  Horneddale,  where  Luge  and 
Thorgils  stayed  to  dine.  He  would  wait  for  them 
at  Borgfirth,  he  said,  and  rode  on. 


20  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

But  his  day's  work  was  by  no  means  over  with 
the  slaying  of  Torve.  He  must  have  been  in  a 
mad  mood,  since  this  is  what  he  did.  He  reached 
a  place  called  Sharpfell,  with  a  good  homestead, 
and  the  men,  just  off  work,  standing  about  the 
doors.  He  had  to  cross  two  or  three  fields  to  reach 
the  track  which  led  past  the  house,  and  there,  in 
the  last  of  them,  he  saw  two  men  talking  by  a 
turf  wall — one  was  sitting  on  the  wall,  the  other, 
with  his  crook  between  his  knees,  was  sitting  on 
his  heels,  leaning  his  head  forward  and  looking  at 
the  ground.  Thorgar  passed  quite  close  to  him 
with  an  axe  swinging  loosely  in  his  hand.  As  he 
went  by,  without  thinking  what  he  was  doing,  he 
swung  up  the  axe  and  let  it  fall  on  the  back  of 
the  man's  neck.  It  cut  like  a  razor,  took  the  head 
clean  off.  All  the  men  stared  at  him,  too  much 
astonished  to  cry  out.  Thorgar  rode  on  his  way 
and  passed  out  of  sight:  nobody  came  after 
him. 

But  by  the  time  Luge  and  the  other  man  came 
on  the  household  at  Sharpfell  had  collected  its  wits 
and  was  ready  for  them.     Luge,  in  perfect  inno- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  21 

cence,  asked,  had  they  seen  a  horseman  go  by,  and 
described  Thorgar.  "Is  he  a  friend  of  yours?" 
"  He  is."  "  Then  we  will  trouble  you  with  a  deed 
of  his."  Whereupon  they  displayed  the  headless 
corpse  of  the  shepherd.  No  help,  they  must 
pay  weregild — and  so  they  did,  very  unwillingly, 
and  then  they  rode  on  their  way  to  Borg- 
firth. 

There,  on  the  hard,  was  Thorgar,  all  his  ill- 
humour  blown  away,  who  hailed  them  cheer- 
fully. "Well  met,"  he  said,  "but  you  ride 
slowly." 

Luge  and  Thorgils  looked  at  each  other. 
"Ah,"  said  Luge,  "and  perhaps  if  you  were 
slower  in  your  deeds  you  would  be  none  the 
worse." 

"  As  for  the  speed  we  make,"  Thorgils  said, 
"  that  is  as  may  be.  I  suppose  you  haven't  reck- 
oned the  time  we  may  have  spent  in  repairing  your 
mischiefs." 

At  first  Thorgar  honestly  did  not  know  what 
all  this  implied.  He  knit  his  brows  over  it  and 
gazed  darkly  from  under  them  at  the  two  arrivals. 


22  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

Then  his  face  cleared.  "  Ah,  you  came  by- 
Mars  well?     Now  I  understand  you." 

He  looked  rather  serious.  "  It  must  be  confessed 
I  did  thoughtlessly  up  there." 

"  Thoughtless  enough — and  heartless  enough," 
said  Luge.  "  What  grudge  did  you  owe  the 
man?" 

"  None  at  all — none  at  all." 

"  Then,"  said  Luge,  "  I  don't  know  what  to  say 
to  you." 

"  I  don't  think  you  will  understand  me,"  Thorgar 
said.  "  It  is  the  truth  that  I  had  nothing  against 
him.  But  as  I  was  passing  him  close,  his  head  was 
stretched  out  in  such  a  way  that  it  was  difficult  to 
resist  a  cut  at  it.  The  axe,  do  you  see,  was  swinging 
in  my  hand.  And  it  sliced  him  like  a  turnip.  But 
it  was  a  thoughtless  act." 

"  It  was  a  manslaughter  for  which  we  have  been 
compelled  to  pay  handsomely,"  Thorgils  told 
him. 

"  I  pay,  I  pay,"  says  Thorgar. 

"  Why,  yes,"  Thorgar  said,  "  you  pay,  no  doubt. 
But  are  you  always  so  handy  with  your  steel  ?  " 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  23 

"  No,  no,"  said  Thorgar. 

"  It  is  to  be  hoped  not.  On  board  ship,  you  must 
know,  we  stand  thick  between  decks." 

"  You  are  very  right,"  said  Thorgar.  "  I  will 
take  care." 

That  evening  they  went  on  board,  and  betimes 
they  up-anchor  and  rowed  out  of  the  firth. 


IV 


There  is  but  little  more  to  be  told  of  Thorgar, 
the  manner  of  whose  death,  like  the  fact  of  it,  was 
not  known  for  many  years.  The  ship  made  a  long 
voyage  before  they  saw  land;  and  when  they  saw 
it,  and  knew  it  for  Ireland,  they  were  in  two 
minds  whether  to  go  ashore  or  not.  The  Icelanders 
were  not  loved  in  Ireland,  and  as  Luge  wished  to 
trade  and  had  no  desire  either  to  kill  or  be  killed, 
he  gave  orders  that  they  should  cast  anchor  out 
of  bow  shot  from  the  land,  and  hide  a  while  before 
they  manned  the  boat.  They  could  see  a  dense 
company  awaiting  them,  and  a  company  which 
was  constantly  increasing,  and  a  company  which 
was  heavily  armed.  They  saw  spears  in  such  a 
number  that  they  looked  like  a  wood  of  young 
trees.  But  no  boats  put  off,  and  they  were  too  far 
out  for  a  shore  attack.  Nevertheless,  Luge  did  not 
like  the  look  of  things,  and  soon  made  up  his  mind 

24 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  25 

that  nothing  could  be  done  there.  Thorgar  was 
on  fire  to  make  a  landing,  but  the  other  two  were 
afraid  of  him,  and  with  reason.  After  waiting 
for  a  fair  wind,  they  sailed  directly  they  got  it, 
and  made  a  good  landing  in  England,  where  they 
were  well  received.  King  Cnut  of  Denmark  was 
king  of  that  country,  and  welcomed  them.  From 
thence,  having  letters  from  the  King,  they  went  to 
Denmark,  wintered  there,  and  then  separated.  Luge 
and  Thorgils  went  home,  but  Thorgar  took  ship 
with  some  merchants  of  his  new  acquaintance,  and 
went  to  Norway. 

There,  on  all  hands,  he  heard  such  things  of 
King  Olaf  that  he  determined  to  see  him.  Olaf 
was  at  Trondjem,  sitting  in  his  hall  with  his  chiefs 
about  him,  when  Thorgar  came  in.  He  looked 
very  fine,  having  grown  a  full  beard,  having  a 
goodly  crimson  cloak,  a  winged  casque  in  his  hand, 
and  his  weapons  clanging  about  him  as  he  moved. 

He  walked  up  to  the  hall  and  greeted  the  King. 

"  You  speak  me  fairly,"  says  Olaf,  "  and  I  take 
it  fairly.  But  I  must  know  who  greets  me.  Who 
are  you,  and  whence  are  you?" 


26  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  I  am  from  Iceland,"  he  said,  "  and  my  name 
Thorgar." 

The  King  looked  more  sharply  at  him.  There 
were  very  few  men  of  any  note  in  the  world  whom 
he  did  not  know.  "Are  you  Thorgar  Hawars- 
son?" 

Thorgar  said,  "  That  is  who  I  am." 

Olaf  kept  his  eyes  upon  him.  "  I  have  heard 
of  you,  and  am  glad  to  see  you.  You  are  a  fine 
man,  and  have  the  air  of  a  man.  You  have  done 
some  notable  deeds,  they  tell  me,  and  I  hope  you 
will  do  some  more.  But  you  must  not  look  to 
come  off  unscathed  in  all  things — and  indeed  I  don't 
see  that  fortune  for  you." 

Thorgar  said  that  he  had  learned  to  take  things 
as  they  came.  "  At  this  moment,"  he  said,  "  I  think 
well  of  my  fortune." 

Olaf  was  drawn  to  him,  and  made  up  his  mind 
quickly,  as  he  always  did.  "If  you  will  stay  with 
me,"  he  said,  "you  will  be  welcome,  and  I  desire 
your  better  acquaintance.  I  don't  make  many  mis- 
takes in  the  company  I  keep." 

Thorgar  said,  "  I  accept  that  offer." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  27 

There  he  stayed,  it  is  said,  for  a  year  or  more, 
high  in  honour  with  King  Olaf.  And  then  came 
the  end  of  him.  The  King's  affairs  in  Greenland 
called  for  ships  and  armed  men.  Thorgar  was 
made  chief  of  a  company.  He  went,  and  was  swal- 
lowed up  in  that  land  of  fog  and  storm.  Report 
came  long  afterwards  to  Olaf  in  Norway  that  he 
had  been  slain  by  one  Thorgrim  Trolle,  but  nothing 
of  the  manner  of  his  death.  Later  still,  the  news 
reached  his  friend  Thormod  at  Bathbow. 


When  Thormod  had  receonciled  himself  to  the 
loss  of  his  friend,  and  was  content  to  keep  him 
as  a  beautiful  memory,  he  began  to  cast  about  for 
a  more  active  occupation — not  for  his  body,  for 
he  never  wanted  that,  but  for  his  mind.  He  turned 
over  the  young  men  of  his  acquaintance,  and  had 
no  interest  in  any  of  them.  Then  he  realised  that 
the  pursuits,  desperate  enough  as  some  of  them 
were,  which  he  had  shared  with  Thorgar  had  only 
pleased  him  because  they  pleased  Thorgar.  He 
did  not  care  for  horse-fighting  in  itself,  or  for 
football  upon  the  ice;  he  did  not  wish  to  drink 
or  be  drunk ;  he  did  not  want  to  fight  with  any  one 
or  to  draw  blood.  He  knew  that  he  was  unlike  other 
young  men,  but  did  not  at  all  know  why.  What 
he  liked  best  of  all  was  to  see  a  beautiful  thing, 
and  sit  still  and  look  at  it — and  think  about  it. 
Now  it  happened  that  there  was  a  beautiful  thing 

28 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  29 

near  at  hand;  so  he  got  into  the  way  of  going  to 
look  at  it.  It  was  a  young  girl  called  Thordis,  about 
fifteen  years  old,  the  only  daughter  of  Grima,  the 
widow,  who  lived  at  Augre — a  place  close  by  the 
water  of  Icefirth. 

Grima  was  rather  old  to  have  a  child  of  that  age, 
very  well  off,  and  supposed  to  be  wise.  That  means 
to  say  that  she  knew  things  unlawful — witchcraft, 
spaedom  and  suchlike.  She  was  always  very  pleas- 
ant to  Thormod  when  he  came;  and  Thordis,  her 
girl,  was  more  than  that. 

She  was  a  very  good-looking  girl,  tall  and  beau- 
tifully formed,  with  a  delicate  colour  and  bright 
eyes.  She  knew  that  Thormod  admired  her,  which 
enhanced  her  good  looks;  and  as  she  trusted  him 
the  two  became  more  than  friendly.  She  used  to 
kiss  him  when  it  grew  dusk,  but  never  in  the  day- 
light; so  Thormod  got  into  the  habit  of  coming 
rather  late  and  staying  till  nightfall.  He  had  plenty 
to  say  to  her,  and  she  was  a  good  listener.  They 
used  to  sit  together  in  the  summer  twilight  and 
watch  the  smooth-flowing  water  of  the  firth,  while 
Thormod  would  tell  her  his  fancies  about  every- 


30  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

thing  in  the  world  in  one  long  stream  of  murmur. 
Grima  would  be  mostly  indoors  at  such  times; 
but  she  knew  pretty  well  what  was  going  on, 
and  thought  no  harm  so  long  as  nobody  else 
did. 

But  the  worst  of  it  was,  as  always  happens,  the 
neighbours,  who  knew  much  less  than  Grima  did, 
as  a  consequence  thought  much  more.  After  the 
first  winter  of  this  pleasant  intercourse,  when  the 
open  weather  began,  and  the  long  days,  and  Thor- 
mod  continued  his  visits  to  Augre,  the  people  of 
that  countryside  began  to  whisper,  to  nod,  wink 
and  talk.  Then  presently  something  of  all  this 
drifted  past  Grima's  ears;  she  heard  it  and  was 
offended.  As  their  saying  went,  Thormod  was  be- 
guiling her  daughter,  than  which  nothing  more 
harmful  could  be  said  of  any  girl. 

So  by  and  by  Grima,  choosing  her  time,  had 
a  word  or  two  with  Thormod.  "  I  have  had  words 
come  by  me,"  she  said,  "  that  you  are  beguiling 
my  Thordis.  That  miscontents  me,  because  you 
know  as  well  as  I  do  that  a  girl's  person  is  like 
a  polished  mirror.    Breathe  upon  it  and  she  is  tar- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  31 

nished.  Young  men  will  not  ask  for  a  girl  whose 
fame  is  spotted." 

Thormod  was  troubled.  "  There  is  no  harm  be- 
tween us,  mother,"  he  said.  "  We  like  each  other 
well — but  not  in  that  way." 

"If  I  had  thought  there  was  harm  in  it  you 
would  not  be  listening  to  me  now,"  said  Grima. 
"  I  like  you  well  myself,  and  think  that  you  two 
are  happy  together.  But  there  can  only  be  one 
end  to  such  companionships.  If  you  choose  to  ask 
me  for  her  I  shall  give  her  to  you.  So  it  is  in 
your  choice." 

Now  Thormod  looked  rather  foolish.  He  did 
not  find  any  words  for  some  time,  but  then  he 
thanked  Grima  for  her  kindness.  "  You  treat  me 
very  friendly,"  he  said,  "  and  I  shall  treasure  your 
speeches.  But  I  told  you  just  now  that  we  had 
no  thought  of  setting  up  house.  I  haven't  said  a 
word  of  it  to  Thordis — I  am  not  a  marrying  man 
myself,  so  far  as  I  see.  If  I  were  such,  be 
sure  I  should  look  for  no  better  wife  than 
Thordis.  But  that  will  not  be  the  end  of  our 
friendship." 


32  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

Grima  looked  at  him,  her  lips  pressed  together. 
"Oh,  well "  she  said. 

"Well?"  said  Thormod. 

"  I  can't  have  her  a  byword." 

Thormod  rose  to  his  feet,  stayed  irresolute  for 
a  little,  then  shrugged,  threw  up  his  head,  wished 
her  good  day,  and  walked  out  of  the  house.  He 
saw  Thordis  in  the  cowhouse,  and  waved  his  hand 
to  her.  She  stood  there  looking  after  him;  but  he 
did  not  turn  his  head.  He  kept  away  for  the  rest 
of  the  summer. 

But  when  the  winter  dark  began  he  was  horribly 
hipped  at  home,  and  began  to  think  longingly  of 
Augre  and  Thordis's  kisses.  The  bay  froze  hard 
and  gave  him  a  short  cut;  he  did  not  attempt  to 
resist  his  desires.  He  was  rather  sheepish  facing 
Grima  again,  but  she  was  pleasant  enough  to  him, 
thinking  that  perhaps  he  had  thought  it  over  and 
found  himself  more  of  a  marrying  man  than  he 
had  believed.  "If  he  can't  get  her  society  any 
other  way,  he  will  have  it  that  way."  That  was 
what  she  thought.  There  was  no  doubt  of  the 
welcome  he  had  from  Thordis  at  least.     She  was 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  33 

shy,  but  it  made  her  kisses  all  the  sweeter  when 
they  came,  to  have  to  beg  for  them.  Very  soon 
he  came  daily  and  went  away  nightly.  Then  gossip 
began  again.  Grima  bore  it  as  long  as  she  could, 
and  then  asked  Thormod  plainly  to  cease  his  visits. 
Thormod  laughed,  said  he  would  be  more  careful, 
and  wasn't  so.    And  then  Grima  grew  angry. 

She  kept  a  thrall,  Colbac  by  name,  a  big  and 
strong  fellow.  One  afternoon,  while  Thormod  and 
Thordis  were  in  the  house  together,  Grima  went 
out  into  the  byre  and  found  Colbac  at  work.  She 
beckoned  him  with  her  forefinger,  then  put  it  to 
her  lips.  He  followed  her  into  the  house,  and 
found  her  groping  in  a  great  coffer  that  stood  there. 
She  brought  out  presently  some  skeins  of  what 
looked  like  waxed  silk,  and  holding  them  in  her 
two  hands,  said,  "  Hold  up  your  arms  that  I  may 
make  you  invisible."  He  did  as  she  bade  him, 
and  she  wound  the  skeins  round  and  round  his 
body  underneath  his  outer  coat,  from  the  armpits 
well  down  to  the  buttocks.  "  Nothing  will  bite 
you  now,"  she  said.  Then  she  brought  a  short, 
straight  two-edged  sword  out  of  her  coffer.    "  Take 


34  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

this,"  she  said;  "better  not  go  unarmed."  She 
looked  up  at  the  sky  and  snuffed  about.  "  There 
is  a  thaw  coming,  but  the  bay  will  hold  to-night. 
Be  wary;  you  will  take  no  harm."  That  was  all 
she  said. 

After  supper,  when  Thormod  got  up  to  go  home, 
Thordis  went  to  the  door  with  him.  She  put  her 
hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  said,  "  I  want  to  ask 
you  something." 

"  It  is  yours,"  said  Thormod. 

"  Don't  cross  the  bay  to-night,  then.  Take  the 
upper  road  above  Augreswick,  and  then  the  track 
over  the  brae  to  Bathbow.    Will  you  promise  me  ?  " 

"Why  do  you  want  me  to  do  that?"  he  asked 
her. 

"  Oh,"  she  said,  "  the  ice  may  not  be  safe — who 
knows?  I  don't  want  to  think  of  any  harm  coming 
to  you." 

"  No  harm  will  come  to  me,"  said  Thormod. 
"  The  ice  will  bear  for  another  day  and  night." 

Thordis  took  her  hand  away.  "  How  many 
favours  do  I  ask  of  you  that  you  grudge  me  this 
one?" 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  35 

Thormod  said  immediately,  "  Put  your  hand 
where  it  was,  and  I'll  grant  you  anything."  She 
did;  and  then  she  kissed  him,  and  he  left  her. 

When  he  was  a  little  of  his  way  he  thought 
that  after  all  he  would  go  over  the  ice.  It  was 
much  shorter,  and  he  could  keep  along  the  edge 
for  a  good  distance,  and  then  make  a  rush.  So 
he  took  his  usual  course.  When  he  came  to  the 
sheep-cote  which  stood  down  by  the  water,  and  was 
in  the  act  of  passing  it,  a  man  jumped  out  and  cut 
at  him.  He  felt  a  sting  upon  his  right  upper  arm, 
felt  the  blood  flow  freely,  and  found  that  he  had 
no  power  in  it.  He  dropped  his  shield,  pulled  out 
his  sword  with  his  left  hand  and  attacked  his 
assailant,  who  only  defended  himself  and  hit  him 
no  more.  Thormod  fought  fiercely  and  hit  the 
man  many  times,  but  without  effect.  He  felt  that 
the  sword  would  not  bite,  and  presently  gave  over, 
and  stood  looking  at  the  shrouded  form  against 
him.  Colbac  it  was,  who  then  said,  "  I  have  you 
now,  Thormod — but  enough  done."  He  turned  and 
faded  into  the  night.  Thormod  felt  faint  and  sick, 
but  managed  somehow  to  tie  up  his  arm  with  the 


36  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

only  rag  he  had  to  spare,  namely,  his  linen  drawers. 
When  he  reached  home  he  could  hardly  speak  for 
exhaustion,  and  neither  eat  nor  drink.  The  maid 
who  had  been  waiting  for  him  called  up  his  father, 
and  between  them  they  put  him  to  bed.  He  was 
in  a  fever,  and  light-headed. 


VI 


Thormod  may  have  been  a  bad  subject,  but  at 
any  rate  he  was  very  ill,  and  never  recovered  the 
use  of  his  right  arm.  The  power  in  it  was  gone. 
He  became  expert  with  his  left,  however,  and  was 
nearly  the  same  fine  swimmer  he  had  always  been 
— but  that  was  much  later.  There  was  no  swimming 
for  him  the  summer  following  Colbac's  onslaught. 
Any  ideas  that  he  may  have  had  of  swimming  over 
the  firth  to  see  Thordis  were  far  from  him  at  that 
time — as,  indeed,  she  herself  was.  He  neither 
thought  of  her  with  regret  nor  cherished  any 
grudge.  He  laughed  at  his  father  when  he  spoke 
of  vengeance.  "Vengeance  for  what?"  he  said. 
"Had  she  not  a  right  to  rid  her  of  a  nuisance? 
That  was  what  I  proved  to  her." 

Said  his  father,  "  You  could  have  wed  your  lady 
for  a  nod." 

"  That  nod  would  have  cost  me  more  than  a 
37 


38  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

slack  arm,"  Thormod  said.     "  I  shall  never  marry 
Thordis." 

When  his  health  was  better  he  began  to  chafe 
at  his  home-staying,  and  made  many  plans.  But 
they  came  to  nothing,  and  presently  he  fell  in  with 
a  plan  of  his  father's,  which  was  that  he  should 
go  out  to  the  fishing  on  the  Banks  beyond  Bolewick. 
"  Why  not  ?  "  he  said,  when  it  was  proposed ;  and 
off  he  went. 

They  sailed  out  of  Icefirth  on  a  fair  wind,  and 
it  looked  like  a  good  passage;  but  when  they  were 
off  Ernedale  it  shifted  and  blew  in  their  teeth.  As 
it  looked  like  holding,  they  cast  anchor  as  close 
inshore  as  they  could  get,  landed  and  pitched  a  tent. 
Thormod  took  to  wandering  over  the  country,  and 
so  wandered  into  a  new  distraction. 

A  homestead  stood  in  a  snug  valley  which  ran 
out  of  Ernedale.  A  woman  named  Catla  held  it, 
with  her  daughter  Thorbeorg,  and  her  son,  called 
Glum.  Thorbeorg  was  a  pretty  girl,  not  at  all  like 
Thordis,  for  she  was  little,  and  had  a  high  colour, 
and  with  very  blue  eyes  had  hair  as  black  as  night. 
Her  eyebrows,  for  which  she  was  famous,  perfect 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  39 

half-circles,  deeply  black,  gave  her  the  nickname  of 
Coalbrow.  She  was  a  merry-hearted  girl,  and  gave 
herself  no  airs.     Everybody  liked  her. 

Into  that  house,  where  she  and  her  mother  were, 
Thormod  walked  one  day,  and  stood  smiling  in  his 
queer  way,  waiting  for  a  welcome.  And  he  got 
it.  Catla,  still  a  young  woman,  was  glad  to  see 
him,  or  any  one  in  that  lonely  country,  and  when 
she  heard  his  name  she  nodded  and  smiled  at  it. 
"  We  have  often  heard  of  you,"  she  said,  "  and  will 
make  you  welcome."  He  and  Thorbeorg  looked  at 
each  other  more  than  once,  and  liked  what  they 
saw.  Thormod  had  a  good  way  with  women,  for 
he  treated  them  as  equals,  which  all  poets  do  not, 
and  took  pains  to  be  at  ease  and  set  them  so.  He 
soon  had  Thorbeorg  talking  to  him  as  freely  as 
her  mother;  so  there  he  stayed  all  day. 

He  walked  back  over  the  fell  to  his  tent  happier 
than  he  had  been  for  a  long  while.  Thorbeorg 
moved  him  as  Thordis  had  never  done.  It  was 
not  that  she  was  more  beautiful — for  she  was  not 
— but  that  there  was  that  about  her  which  charmed 
him  more.    As  he  went  he  began  to  make  up  sen- 


40  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

tences  about  her,  to  string  them  together  into  a 
kind  of  pattern.  Before  he  was  in  the  tent  he  had 
made  a  poem.  He  was  too  excited  to  sleep;  the 
moon  was  up  and  throwing  a  golden  pathway  over 
the  firth.  He  walked  about,  declaiming  his  verses 
and  thinking  about  Coalbrow.  That  name  attracted 
him,  too.  It  was  a  rich  and  strong  name.  Cer- 
tainly he  had  never  seen  anything  like  her  eye- 
brows— hoops  of  jet,  black  bows  over  dark-blue; 
arches  of  cloud  over  the  sea.  He  walked  fiercely 
about,  thinking  of  Coalbrow  and  her  hoops  of  jet. 
She  was  a  sweet  and  lovely  person  whom  it  was 
happiness  to  flatter  excessively.  He  would  like  to 
say  of  her  something  never  said  about  a  girl  before. 
Arches  in  the  storm-cloud  revealing  the  dark-blue 
sea — or  if  her  eyes  were  two  lakes,  were  not  her 
brows  like  the  black  pines  arched  above  them? 
They  were  like  everything  where  deep  blue  and 
black  met  and  enhanced  each  other.  But  then  he 
thought  that  if  he  were  to  make  a  great  poem  about 
Coalbrow  he  must  give  time  to  it.  "  I  see  my  way 
— I  see  my  way — but  you  must  give  me  time,  you 
beautiful  creature."    He  turned  to  where  the  house 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  41 

was  which  held  her  sleeping,  and  her  hooped  brows 
— and  spoke  to  her  softly  on  the  wind.  "  Now  I 
shall  go  in  and  sleep,  and  dream  about  you,  Coal- 
brow." 

Not  surprising  that  he  went  out  to  the  farm 
again,  and  soon  was  there  every  day.  He  read  his 
verses  to  Thorbeorg,  and  some  of  them  to  her 
mother.  They  thought  this  fine  fun.  Glum,  the 
son  of  the  house,  was  away  from  home;  there  was 
no  other  man  in  the  house  but  the  servants.  Catla 
presently  proposed  that  Thormod  should  stay  with 
them  altogether,  and  let  his  mates  go  fishing  alone. 
That  was  arranged,  and  he  lived  as  a  son  of  the 
family  for  the  better  part  of  a  month. 

In  the  course  of  that  he  finished  his  poem  about 
Thorbeorg's  coalbrows,  and  not  only  read  it  to  her, 
but  declaimed  it  to  company.  It  was  much  ad- 
mired, and  once  at  a  feast  where  he  delivered  it, 
and  Coalbrow  herself  sat  demure  to  hear  it,  and 
to  be  marked  of  all,  Catla  her  mother  took  a  fine 
ring  off  her  finger,  and  put  it  upon  Thormod's 
finger  before  the  assembled  guests.  "  I  give  you 
this  for  your  verses,"  she  said,  "  which  do  honour 


42  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

to  my  daughter  and  to  me.  And  you  shall  be 
known  far  and  wide  as  Coalbrow's  poet,  whereby 
my  girl  will  be  remembered  when  men  speak  of 
you." 

Thormod  took  the  gift  and  the  name  with  be- 
coming modesty.  He  was  proud  of  them  and  proud 
to  be  accepted  as  Thorbeorg's  lover.  Indeed,  he 
firmly  believed  himself  to  be  in  love  with  her,  but 
we  may  suppose  that  his  chief  pride  lay  in  the 
ability  he  had  shown  to  pay  her  a  magnificent  and 
unexpected  compliment. 

But  when  his  men  came  back  from  the  fishing 
it  was  necessary  to  say  good-bye.  His  parting  with 
Thorbeorg  was  tender,  and  took  a  long  time.  She 
had  a  sweet  nature  and  did  not  seek  to  hide  her 
unhappiness,  or  her  belief  in  him.  He  held  her 
fondly  and  believed  in  himself  as  he  swore  that  he 
loved  her.  From  her  he  turned  to  her  mother. 
"  You  have  been  mother  to  me,  who  have  no  mother 
at  home.  Do  you  believe  in  me  also,  as  Coalbrow 
does?" 

He  had  Thorbeorg's  hand  as  he  spoke,  and  there 
were  tears  in  his  eyes. 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  43 

"  Come  back  to  us,"  Catla  said.     "  Never  pass 

by  this  house  as  if  it  held  strangers." 

"  Trust  me,"  said  Thormod,  and  as  he  said  it 

he  trusted  in  himself.     And  then  he  turned  away, 

and  Thorbeorg  cried  with  her  face  on  her  mother's 

shoulder. 


VII 


For  a  good  while  after  reaching  home  he 
thought  tenderly  of  Coalbrow,  and  at  the  turning 
over  of  the  name  had  a  vision  of  her  glowing  face, 
deep-blue  eyes  and  arched  eyebrows.  But  if  he 
had  known  as  much  about  love  as  he  thought  he 
did  he  would  have  known  that  it  is  a  bad  sign 
when  you  can  recall  clearly  the  face  of  the  beloved. 
The  greater  your  longing  the  more  blurred  is  the 
image,  hidden  up  as  it  were  in  the  mists  of  desire. 
But  Thormod  knew  nothing  about  all  that,  and 
as  long  as  the  image  of  Thorbeorg  pleased  him  so 
long  did  he  feel  himself  in  love  with  her. 

By  and  by  he  mostly  forgot  Thorbeorg,  and  as 
it  was  then  the  winter,  with  the  firth  icebound,  it 
was  natural  that  he  should  remember  a  short  cut 
to  Augre,  and  who,  and  what,  lay  at  the  end  of 
it  To  take  the  way  was  also  natural;  and  he 
did  take  it,  with  only  one  thought  for  Colbac's  am- 

44 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  45 

bush  by  the  sheepfold,  and  with  not  more  than 
three  thoughts  of  Thorbeorg  in  Ernedale.  How- 
ever, he  was  to  have  more  thoughts  of  her  before 
he  was  out  of  Augre. 

Grima  received  him  well,  though  not  without  a 
backward  hint  or  two.  "  So  you  come  to  see 
us  again!  And  bringing  peace,  I  hope,  with 
you." 

"  Oh,  peace !  "  says  Thormod.  "  I  am  not  one 
to  store  things  in  the  mind." 

"  We  are  not  all  masters  of  the  mind,"  said 
Grima;  "but  there  should  be  no  feud  between  us." 
She  gave  him  to  drink,  and  sat  talking  with  him 
of  indifferent  things;  then  presently  Thordis  came 
in,  with  a  heightened  colour,  and  a  certain  stiffness. 
Thormod  thought  her  much  more  beautiful  than 
Thorbeorg,  and  she  certainly  was,  though  not  so 
charming.  When  Grima  left  them  together  he  did 
his  best  to  restore  the  old  footing,  but  found  that 
Grima  had  been  right  in  saying  that  we  are  not  all 
masters  of  the  mind. 

Thordis  was  not  to  be  drawn  so  easily.  She 
had  very  little  to  say,  and  did  not  appear  interested 


46  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

in  what  Thormod  had  to  tell  her.  That  nettled 
him. 

"  You  are  changed  a  good  deal,"  he  said.  "  Now 
if  I  bear  no  grudge  for  what  happened  on  my  last 
visit,  I  cannot  think  that  you  need." 

Thordis'  eyes  flashed. 

"  Perhaps  you  forget  that  it  was  not  my  fault 
that  anything  happened  to  you.  Forgetting  seems 
to  come  easy." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  said  Thormod. 

"  I  mean  that  you  forgot  my  prayer  to  you  to 
take  the  long  road  that  night,"  said  she. 

"  I  acknowledge  that  I  disobeyed  you,"  he  told 
her,  "  but  not  because  I  forgot  what  you  said.  I 
found  the  ice  would  carry  me,  so  I  took  that  road. 
It  would  have  been  well  for  me  if  I  had  kept 
faith." 

"  To  keep  faith  is  always  well,"  said  Thordis 
drily;  "but  that  does  not  come  easily  to  you,  I 
understand." 

At  first  he  was  puzzled.    "  What  is  this?  " 

"  I  hear  of  you  as  a  poet,"  said  Thordis.  "  I 
hear  of  you  as  a  lover." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  47 

"  Do  you  say  I  am  a  poet  ?  " 

"  No,  indeed." 

"  Do  you  say  I  am  a  lover  ? " 

"  Nay,  that  is  what  you  say  of  yourself." 

"  When  have  I  said  so  ?    Where  have  I  said  so  ?  " 

"  In  the  poem  which  you  made  to  Thorbeorg 
Coalbrow  in  Ernedale,"  said  Thordis. 

There,  then,  he  had  it,  and  he  did  on  the  spot 
what  I  suppose  every  man  would  have  done — that 
is,  lied. 

He  said  very  quietly,  and  without  moving  from 
his  place  by  the  board,  "  That  is  quite  untrue,  as 
you  put  it.  It  is  true  that  I  made  a  poem  in  Erne- 
dale,  and  that  Thorbeorg  heard  it,  for  I  spoke  it 
to  her.  But  the  poem  was  about  yourself,  though 
she  may  not  have  known  that.  If  a  man  is  to 
write  a  poem  about  a  lady  he  will  write  the  more 
strongly  about  her  when  he  is  face  to  face  with 
another  whose  beauty  and  conversation  make  to 
shine  by  contrast  those  of  the  woman  of  his  love. 
Now  I  can  recite  you  the  poem  which  I  made,  if 
you  choose  to  hear  it.  And  I  will  write  it  down 
for  you,  if  you  care  to  have  it."    Then  he  looked 


48  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

straight  at  Thordis  and  saw  the  cloud  of  doubt 

lift  a  little  from  her  fine  eyes. 

She  avoided  his  bold  gaze,  and  looked  down  at 
her  hands  in  her  lap.  Presently  she  said  that  she 
should  like  to  hear  the  poem. 

Thormod  began  to  speak  the  Coalbrow  poem,  and 
as  he  went  on,  so  struck  was  he  with  desire  of 
Thordis  that  he  was  fired  with  words,  and  made 
a  new  thing  of  it.  He  did  not  falter  once,  or  be- 
tray himself.  He  felt  as  he  went  on  that  he  was 
improving  the  poem,  and  attributed  that  entirely 
to  the  greater  beauty  of  Thordis.  She  listened 
closely,  was  plainly  moved  by  his  fervour — the  signs 
could  not  be  mistaken;  and  at  the  end  she  looked 
up  with  a  divine  light  in  her  eyes,  and  without  a 
word  gave  him  her  hand.  Thormod  sprang  to- 
wards her,  and  they  kissed.  He  felt  happy  and 
triumphant;  for  he  had  made  what  was  really  a 
new  poem  out  of  one  which  he  now  thought 
meanly  of. 

But  on  his  way  home  his  mood  changed,  and  he 
felt  very  badly  of  what  he  had  done.  "  I  am  a 
dog,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  to  trick  two  good  and 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  49 

lovely  girls.  It  is  what  a  thrall  would  do."  When 
he  was  at  home  and  abed,  he  could  not  sleep,  be- 
cause whenever  he  was  drowsing  off,  by  some  fate 
Thorbeorg  or  Thordis  seemed  to  stand  vividly  be- 
fore his  eyes,  and  he  grew  hot  all  over.  However, 
in  the  morning  he  felt  better  about  it,  and  by  dusk 
had  but  one  care  in  the  world,  which  was  to  see 
and  be  kissed  by  Thordis.  Happy  with  her  for  a 
few  hours,  his  remorse  attacked  him  at  night. 
Thorbeorg  was  always  by  his  bedside,  but  not  the 
glowing  little  beauty  of  his  experience.  A  new 
Thorbeorg  this  was,  pale  and  reproachful,  whose 
black  brows  stared  fiercely  from  a  white  face.  He 
fought  the  vision  desperately,  and  got  some  sleep 
towards  morning.  That  went  on  nightly,  until  he 
became  ill  with  want  of  proper  rest,  and  gradually 
the  conviction  was  forced  upon  him  that  he  must 
confess  to  Thordis  what  he  had  done.  Finally 
he  knew  that  nothing  else  would  satisfy  his  con- 
science or  give  him  sleep. 

He  did  it,  and  it  was  the  hardest  thing  he  had 
ever  had  to  do.  He  took  with  him  the  poem  he 
had  first  made  about  Coalbrow,   and  gave  it  to 


50  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

Thordis.  More  than  that,  he  forced  himself  to  read 
it  to  her.  He  was  so  beaten  down  by  shame  that 
the  girl  could  not  be  angry,  nor  even  scorn  him. 
On  the  contrary,  she  pitied  him,  and  to  his  great 
surprise  said  presently  that  she  too  had  something 
to  confess. 

"  It  cannot  be  worth  setting  by  my  own  confes- 
sion," said  the  unhappy  Thormod. 

Thordis  said,  "  It  is  bad,  because  it  will  make 
you  unhappy,  but  it  was  not  a  wilful  fault  of  mine. 
I  should  have  told  you  of  it  before,  but " 

"  Let  me  know  it,"  said  Thormod.  "  I  forgive 
it  you  beforehand." 

She  said,  "  I  hope  you  will  remember  what  you 
have  said.  It  is  that  word  was  brought  to  us  a 
while  ago  that  your  friend  Thorgar  has  been  slain." 

A  chill  seized  Thormod's  heart.  He  stared  at 
Thordis. 

"  It  was  a  seafarer  from  Augreswick  who  was 
here  before  you  came  back  to  us.  He  had  been 
in  Greenland.  The  news  was  all  about  there  that 
there  had  been  an  affray." 

"  Who  was  his  slayer?    Did  you  hear  that?  " 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  51 

"  His  name  is  Thorgrim  Troll,"  she  said.  "  He 
is  a  high  chief  out  there;  one  of  the  great  men." 

Thormod  sat  quiet  for  a  time.  Then  he  asked 
her,  "  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  when  I  came  here 
first?" 

She  did  not  answer  quickly.  "  Do  you  ask  me 
that?" 

"  Yes,  I  must  know  that." 

"  It  was  because  I  was  happy  to  see  you  again, 
when  I  thought  that  you  were  as  you  used  to  be, 
and  afraid  that  you  would  forget  me  when  you 
knew  it." 

Thormod  did  not  consider  what  it  cost  her  to 
say  so  much.  She  did  not  exist  for  him  at  the 
time. 

"  I  am  well  punished,"  he  said,  "  by  you  and  Thor- 
beorg,  and  I  deserve  it." 

Thordis  was  crying.  "  Oh,  don't  take  it  like 
that.     I  am  more  than  sorry  for  you." 

"  No,  no,"  he  said.  "  You  have  been  kind.  I 
did  not  mean  that  you  were  revenging  yourself. 
Don't  think  that."     Then  he  rose  to  go. 

"  Farewell,  Thordis,"  he  said.     "  I  have  work 


52  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

on  hand  now.     Maybe  we  shan't  meet  for  a  long 

time." 

"  I  know  it,"  she  said,  and  let  him  go  without 
another  word.     He  went  straight  home. 


VIII 

It  might  be  thought  that  Thormod's  first  act 
would  have  been  to  make  a  poem  upon  the  life 
and  death  of  his  friend;  but  that  was  his  second 
act.  He  went  immediately  from  Grima's  house 
to  Augreswick,  and  was  not  long  in  tracing  out 
the  sailor  who  had  told  the  news  to  Thordis.  The 
sailor  now  repeated  all  that  he  knew,  and  added 
more.  The  quarrel  had  begun  with  a  vaunting 
match  in  Earl  Eric's  hall  at  Ericsfirth.  High  words 
had  passed,  and  Thorgar  was  said  to  have  insulted 
Thorgrim  Troll.  The  sailor  thought  he  had  been 
insulting.  "If  the  upshot  had  been  an  affray,"  he 
said,  "  then  and  there,  no  one  could  have  said  any- 
thing, though  maybe  the  end  would  have  been  the 
same." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ?  "  Thormod  asked. 

"  Master,"  the  sailor  replied,  "  Thorgar  and  his 
Icelanders  were  few.  Thorgrim  Troll  had  a  great 
company  of  his  own.    Moreover  of  the  Earl's  house- 

53 


54  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

hold  and  guests  three  parts,  I  suppose,  would  have 
upheld  a  chieftain  of  their  land.  And  Thorgar 
was  in  the  wrong,  being  far  gone  in  drink.  To 
call  a  man  a  dog — and  a  great  man,  too — is  one 
thing;  to  say  that  he  has  maggot  on  his  liver  is 
in  excess." 

"Did  Thorgar  tell  him  that?" 

"  Those  are  two  of  the  things  he  told  him.  He 
told  him  a  number  of  things." 

"And  what  then?" 

"Thorgrim  Troll  challenged  to  wager  of  battle; 
and  it  was  agreed.  But  on  the  day  set  for  that 
trial  Thorgrim  Troll  with  his  friends  lay  hid  by 
the  way  Thorgar  was  to  come;  leapt  out  at  him 
and  his  following,  and  began  the  affray.  Thorgar 
killed  two  of  Thorgrim' s  men,  and  jumped  into  the 
firth,  to  swim.  Then  Thorgrim  Troll  bade  launch 
a  boat,  which  was  done,  and  himself  in  the  bows. 
Therefrom  he  slew  Thorgar  with  a  harpoon  in  the 
middle  of  his  back,  between  the  shoulders.  His 
body  was  not  recovered,  but  floated  out  with  the 
tide.  But  Thorgrim  did  not  win  much  glory  for 
the  deed." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  55 

Thormod  was  not  able  to  see  for  the  mist  in  his 
eyes.  Nor  could  he  speak  for  a  while.  "  It  was 
the  deed  of  a  dog,"  he  then  said. 

"  What  became  of  Thorgar's  friends?  "  he  asked, 
and  the  man  said  that  while  all  of  those  who  ac- 
companied him  on  the  day  of  his  death  were  killed 
with  him,  those  who  had  stayed  behind  escaped. 
"  I  was  of  his  ship's  company,"  he  said,  "  and  found 
a  hiding-place  until  Thorgrim  Troll  had  gone  home 
to  his  own  country.  Then  after  a  time  I  found 
a  ship  going  to  Iceland;  and  in  due  course  I  will 
find  another  going  to  Norway,  which  is  where  I 
come  from." 

"  Maybe,"  said  Thormod,  "  you  will  find  my 
ship;  for  I  shall  be  going  east  before  long." 

Then  he  went  home,  and  made  his  poem. 

It  has  been  lost  now,  so  I  cannot  give  it  here. 
It  was  the  greatest  thing  of  the  kind  he  ever  did, 
was  famous  itself,  and  made  Thormod  famous  in 
his  day.  It  was  not  so  much  a  lament  as  a  celebra- 
tion of  the  life  and  deeds  of  a  man  who  had  never 
known  fear.  Most  of  it  came  unsought  into  his 
mind  so  soon  as  the  thought  to  make  it  had  come; 


56  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

but  for  some  of  it  he  had  to  make  inquiry.  Thor- 
gar's  deeds  in  England,  what  he  did  in  the  service 
of  King  Olaf — these  things  he  had  to  learn.  He 
may  have  learned  among  them  of  his  purposeless 
killing  of  two  men  on  the  day  before  he  left  Ice- 
land; but  if  he  heard  it  is  unlikely  that  he  put  it 
into  his  poem.  Thormod  himself  was  not  by  na- 
ture a  fighting  man,  and  nothing  that  he  ever  did 
would  give  colour  to  a  charge  of  heedless  slaughter 
against  him.  Nor,  when  he  closed  his  poem  with 
lament  for  the  delights  of  intercourse  gone  for  good, 
and  for  the  untimely  death  of  a  young  man  so 
beautiful  and  swift  as  his  friend,  did  he  give  a 
hint  of  that  vengeance  which  he  intended  to  take. 
His  poem  was  declaimed  throughout  the  north  and 
north-west  of  Iceland,  and  Thormod  was  held  to 
be  as  famous  a  poet  as  Cormac  of  Broadfirth,  who 
indeed  made  only  love-poems.  And  he  was  to  find 
out  before  very  long  that  it  flew  oversea,  and 
reached  the  Eastern  kingdoms  before  he  did;  for 
he  allowed  half  of  the  following  summer  to  slip 
away  before  all  his  preparations  were  made. 

And  when  he  set  sail,  having  a  ship  and  ship's 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  57 

company  to  his  mind,  it  was  to  Denmark  that  he 
went,  instead  of  Norway,  for  it  was  thither  that 
the  voyage  was  purposed  by  the  undertakers.  For 
himself,  he  had  all  along  intended  for  Norway, 
because  he  had  found  out  that  Thorgar  had  been 
of  King  Olaf's  household.  But  ships  were  not 
plenty  in  the  north-west,  and  he  was  on  fire  to  be 
off — so  he  went  to  Denmark. 

Cnut  the  Great,  as  they  called  him,  and  with 
reason,  was  King  of  Denmark,  a  king  who  made 
himself  obeyed.  Thormod's  ship  had  not  been  long 
in  the  haven  before  a  messenger  came  down  from 
the  King:  greetings,  a  handsome  cloak,  and  a  call 
to  visit  him,  which  was  a  command.  Thormod  set 
off  at  once,  and  was  brought  into  the  King's  pres- 
ence. A  strong,  square-headed  man  he  proved  to 
be,  with  bent  and  shaggy  brows  over  a  pair  of 
sharp  eyes.  Thormod,  not  lightly  abashed,  walked 
up  between  two  lines  of  warriors  and  greeted  the 
King  very  honourably.  In  answer  the  King  held 
out  his  hand. 

"  You  are  welcome  to  Denmark,"  he  said,  "  as 
are  all  good  men.    But  what  is  it  brings  you  here?  " 


58  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  Sir,  it  is  your  own  word." 

"  That  I  can  understand.  But  before  you  had 
word  from  me  you  were  in  my  haven." 

"  Sir,"  said  Thormod,  "  after  a  while  a  man 
knows  his  own  country  very  well,  and  may  desire 
to  know  others." 

The  King  nodded.  "  I  see  that  you  keep  your 
own  counsel — and  you  may  be  right.  Now  I  hear 
of  you  as  a  man  in  all  ways  fitted  to  be  in  a  court — 
and  in  some  ways  rarely  fitted.  You  are  a  poet,  I 
hear." 

Thormod  said,  "  I  have  the  name  at  home,  but 
here  you  have  famous  poets  at  your  call.  Now  I 
am  not  proven  poet  enough  to  mate  with  the  like 
of  them;  and  to  be  plain,  the  verses  that  I 
make  come  to  me  unbidden,  as  they  will,  not  as  I 
will." 

Again  the  King  nodded.  "  That  is  as  it  should 
be.    I  am  content  if  you  are  content." 

Thormod  was  not  content,  however.  "  Sir,"  he 
said,  "  you  are  contented  now  because  you  know 
me  little;  but  it  is  needful  that  you  should  under- 
stand that  I  am  a  hot-tempered  man,  and  not  always 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  59 

sure  of  myself.  Sometimes  blow  follows  mood 
faster  than  I  should  wish." 

"  It  is  the  way  of  your  kind,"  said  the  King. 
"  We  understand  all  that  here."  He  now  looked 
as  if  it  was  a  settled  thing. 

But  Thormod  wanted  to  get  away,  and  so  he 
might  have  done,  if  King  Cnut  had  not  divined 
him  and  become  intent  on  having  him. 

"  Sir,"  he  said,  after  a  time  of  choosing  his 
words,  "  I  hope  you  will  not  take  it  amiss  if  I 
say  yet  something  more." 

"  Not  a  bit,"  said  the  King. 

"  It  is  that  Thorarin  the  poet  was  here  with 
you,  and  yet  not  altogether  happily.  For  they  say 
that  his  life  was  at  one  time  hanging  by  a  hair. 
Yet  Thorarin  was  a  much  better  poet  than  I  am." 

The  King  was  not  angry,  as  he  might  well  have 
been;  but  he  was  not  used  to  find  men  difficult. 
"  You  set  a  high  price  on  yourself,"  he  said,  "  and 
no  doubt  you  do  wisely.    But  I  intend  to  pay  it." 

"  God  will  reward  you,  sir,  for  your  nobility, 
and  He  will  pardon  me,  as  you  do,  my  working  for 
myself.     I  would  not  have  you  take  me  into  your 


60  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

service  unwittingly,  nor  would  I  take  service  until 

I  knew  my  footing." 

"Well,"  said  the  King,  "I  like  you  none  the 
worse  for  your  haggling,  and  am  willing  to  pay 
for  what  I  want.  Now  Thorarin  had  of  me  a  mark 
of  gold  for  his  wages,  and  you  shall  have  the  same. 
That  will  show  you  whether  I  wish  for  you  or  not." 

"  Sir,"  said  Thormod,  "  I  take  your  offer,  if  with 
it  you  will  give  me  your  friendship  and  comfort, 
which  I  shall  sorely  need." 

"  If  you  don't  have  them,"  said  the  King,  "  it 
will  be  your  own  doing.  So  let  that  be  a  settled 
thing  between  us." 

There,  then,  Thormod  settled  himself,  and  all 
went  well  for  a  while.  He  had  free  quarters  and 
the  run  of  his  teeth;  the  King  was  friendly,  and 
the  courtiers  in  consequence  more  than  friendly. 
He  was  so  much  in  favour  that  not  a  word  could 
be  said  against  him — and  not  a  word  was.  But 
in  fact  he  never  felt  that  he  grew  into  the  place, 
and  was  always  looking  about  for  a  way  of  escape. 
He  got  it  in  the  winter,  when  Harek  came  to 
court. 


IX 


Harek  was  a  wicking,  that  is  a  pirate,  but  the 
King  liked  him  none  the  less  for  that;  for  of  the 
plunder  he  took  he  was  careful  to  let  his  high  friend 
share  liberally.  He  came  to  court  during  Thor- 
mod's  first  winter,  and  proved  to  be  a  genial  com- 
panion, though  no  beauty  to  look  at.  Thormod 
made  a  poem  about  him,  in  which  his  unchancy 
appearance  was  not  spared ;  but  Harek  thought  it  a 
good  poem,  and  himself  fair  game.  He  watched 
Thormod  unbeknown,  and  took  to  him.  When  the 
time  came  for  the  opening  of  his  errand  there  came 
with  it  Thormod's  chance. 

Harek,  it  seemed,  had  lost  his  best  man,  the  man 
who  commanded  the  forecastle  of  his  ship,  and  had 
all  the  talking  and  much  of  the  adventure  to  con- 
duct. He  had  been,  as  he  had  need,  very  free  with 
his  tongue,  and  once,  at  close  quarters,  had  been 
a  thought  too  free  for  those  with  whom  he  was 

6l 


62  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

dealing.  One  of  them  had  knocked  him  off  the 
bows  with  a  sweep,  and  there  was  the  end  of 
him. 

"  A  pity,"  said  Thormod,  "  that  he  made  so  free." 

"  Ah,  but  you  must  make  free,  standing  up  there," 
Harek  told  him ;  "  free  with  your  tongue  and  handy 
with  your  weapon.  Now,"  he  said,  blinking  heavily 
at  Thormod,  "  I  make  no  doubt  as  to  your  freedom 
in  both  kinds." 

"  Ah,"  said  Thormod,  "  with  the  tongue  I  am 
a  match  for  most  men " 

"  I'll  warrant  you,"  said  Harek. 

"  And  with  the  arm  I  can  do  something  for  my- 
self, or  I  could.  But  I  had  trouble  with  a  man  at 
home  who  carved  into  the  sinews  of  my  right  arm, 
and  shall  never  be  good  again  there.  You  are 
speaking  to  a  left-handed  man." 

"  Whose  left  hand  will  do  the  work  of  other 
men's  rights,  I'll  engage.    Hey  ?  " 

"  Oh,  much  can  be  done  with  the  left,"  said 
Thormod.  "  And  it  is  as  well,  for  much  remains 
to  do." 

"  Enough  said,"   Harek   concluded,   and   deter- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  63 

mined  on  him  as  the  ornament  and  stay  of  his  fore- 
castle. 

He  had  to  talk  King  Cnut  round  to  his  way  of 
thinking,  and  managed  it.  But  when  the  thing  was 
put  square  before  Thormod,  that  queer-angled 
young  man  boggled  at  it.  He  said  that  it  was  very 
well,  that  he  would  do  it  to  oblige  the  King,  but 
that  he  knew  nothing  of  Harek  except  that  he  was 
a  robber.  Nevertheless,  to  oblige  the  King,  he  would 
do  it — on  terms.  "  But  I  make  the  condition,  sir, 
that  it  be  left  to  my  choice  to  bring  up  the  ship 
where  I  will,  whether  in  haven  or  outside." 

The  King  frowned.    "  What  is  your  meaning?  " 

"  My  meaning  is  as  I  have  said,  sir,"  said  Thor- 
mod, and  would  not  say  any  more. 

There  was  much  trouble  over  it,  and  he  very 
nearly  lost  the  offer;  but  Harek  wanted  him,  and 
so  gave  way. 

And  then  there  was  trouble  about  getting  his  dues 
out  of  Cnut.  The  monarch  was  not  a  good  pay- 
master, and  while  it  was  true  that  Thormod's  pred- 
ecessor had  been  granted  a  certain  wages,  it  is  not 
true  that  he  received  it.    But  there  was  a  pertinacity 


64  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

about  Thormod  which  the  other  had  not  possessed. 
It  cost  him  two  impromptu  poems,  for  each  of 
which  he  received  a  gold  armlet.  Having  weighed 
them,  he  judged  them  equal  to  a  mark  of  gold, 
and  told  the  King  that  he  was  contented.  The 
King  took  it  all  in  good  part.  "  If  you  find  Harek 
as  easy  to  deal  with  as  you  have  found  me,"  he 
said,  "  you  will  be  thinking  yourself  somebody." 
Thormod  modestly  smiled.  He  thought  himself 
that  already. 

He  made  no  use  of  his  discretion  in  the  berth- 
ing of  the  ship  until  the  end  of  the  summer.  The 
voyage  was  prosperous,  with  much  fighting,  and 
fair  weather,  too.  Thormod  came  up  to  all  Harek' s 
expectations.  He  was  ready  in  speech,  and  remark- 
ably handy  with  his  weapons.  It  was  found  to  be 
true  of  him,  as  of  Thorgar,  that  he  feared  nothing, 
except  perhaps  God.  What  fears  he  had  there  were 
not  called  upon,  for  God  had  very  little  to  do  with 
Harek's  voyages.  As  far  as  he  was  concerned,  all 
was  well  while  nothing  better  offered;  but  he  had 
sharp  eyes,  and  the  moment  a  chance  came  to  him 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  65 

he  jumped  for  it — and  that  is  what  he  literally  did. 
One  evening,  which  wanted  some  three  or  four 
hours  of  dusk,  Harek's  ship  was  rowed  into  a  fair 
haven  in  the  main  island  of  a  group  of  them. 
Thormod,  standing  up  in  the  bows,  directed  the 
helmsman,  chose  his  mooring  and  at  the  right  mo- 
ment held  out  his  hand  as  a  signal  to  bring  her 
to.  He  let  go  the  bow  anchor,  and  turned  to  watch 
them  drop  the  other  astern,  when  he  saw  men  look- 
ing out  to  sea,  and  pointing  others'  eyes  the  same 
way.  He  looked  out  then  himself,  and  saw  a  fleet 
approaching  in  line:  ships  of  war,  for  he  could 
see  the  shields  along  the  gunwales,  and  the  gleam 
of  spears  close  together.  They  came  on  swiftly 
and  headed  directly  for  the  place  where  he  had 
berthed  his  own  ship,  but  for  some  time  he  took 
no  notice  of  that,  being  lost  in  admiration  of  the 
fine  sight.  High-prowed,  painted  vessels,  driving 
the  foam  before  them,  churning  the  sea  to  yeast 
with  their  great  oars ;  ten  or  twelve  of  them  in  line 
ahead,  with  distances  kept  to  a  yard :  it  was  a  sight 
to  make  the  heart  leap;  and  Thormod's  leapt  high. 
On  the  leading  vessel  the  forecastle  man  was  mak- 


66  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

ing  signals  with  his  arms;  more  than  that,  he  was 
shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  though  nobody 
could  hear  what  he  said.  Thormod,  watching  him, 
then  saw  that  that  ship  in  particular  had  a  golden 
dragon  at  the  prow;  and  at  that  his  heart  stood 
still,  for  he  knew  that  there  must  be  a  great  man 
on  board,  who  could  hardly  be  any  one  than  King 
Olaf  himself.  He  forgot  everything  now  in  the 
excitement  of  searching  in  the  crowd  astern  for 
the  figure  of  the  hero— and  meantime  the  ship  drew 
near. 

On  his  own  ship  there  was  bustle  and  confusion. 
Harek  was  crimson  in  the  face :  "  Up  anchor,  up 
anchor,  you  cow-face ! "  he  shouted  to  Thormod. 
Then  Thormod  saw  that  they  were  in  danger  of 
being  run  down.  The  King's  ship  was  driving 
straight  into  them,  and  now  you  could  hear  what 
the  man  in  the  forecastle  was  calling.  "  Out  of 
the  King's  haven !  Out  with  you !  "  he  was  saying, 
and  on  all  sides  were  ships'  crews  busy  at  the 
anchors. 

Aboard  Harek's  ship  two  men  were  busy 
enough,  but  Thormod  would  not  have  the  bow- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  67 

anchor  touched.    "  No,  no,"  he  said,  "  the  berthing 
is  my  business.     That  was  agreed  upon." 

Harek  raved  at  him.  "  Do  you  want  to  have  us 
cut  in  two  ?  Are  you  mad  ?  "  and  so  on.  But 
Thormod  would  not  stir. 

The  Dragon-ship  came  on,  and  all  of  Harek's 
people  thought  it  was  their  last  hour — but  not  so. 
At  the  last  moment  she  sheered  off,  and  ran  along- 
side, and  as  the  bows  came  level  the  man  on  the 
King's  forecastle  cut  at  Thormod  with  an  axe,  and 
only  just  missed  him. 

Thormod,  with  a  longsword,  replied,  and  to  some 
purpose,  for  he  caught  him  on  the  back  of  the 
neck  and  felled  him  into  the  water.  Immediately 
after  that  he  jumped  on  to  the  King's  ship,  his 
shield  on  his  right  arm,  his  naked  sword  in  his 
left,  and  ran  clean  up  the  deck  toward  the  poop. 

The  thing  was  so  sudden  and  done  so  vehemently 
that  he  got  more  than  halfway  before  he  was 
stopped.  Men  simply  made  a  road  for  him,  some 
no  doubt  supposing  him  mad.  But  as  he  neared 
the  poop  of  the  vessel  he  was  surrounded,  and  then 
it  was  all  over  with  him.     He  was  disarmed,  tied 


68  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

up  and  guarded,  while  word  was  passed  astern  to 
King  Olaf  that  the  fool  had  been  taken. 

"  Good,"  said  the  King;  "  and  now  let  some  one 
serve  him  as  he  served  my  man." 

Fin  Ernesson,  a  fine  tall  man,  heard  the  saying 
and  went  forward  to  look  over  the  prisoner.  He 
was  a  chief,  and  nobody  cared  to  gainsay  him. 
Thormod  was  quite  cool,  and  met  Fin's  looks  with 
a  steady  and  good-humoured  one  of  his  own. 

"  Now,  what  possessed  you,  I  wonder,  to  do  the 
like  of  that?  "  Fin  asked  him. 

Thormod,  with  his  engaging  stutter,  replied: 
"  Curiosity." 

"  Were  you  anxious  to  see  death,  then  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Thormod.  "  I  was  curious  to  see 
the  King,  and  so  I  hope  to  do  before  he  has  me 
killed." 

"And  why  did  you  wish  to  see  the  King?" 

"  Because  he  is  the  greatest  man  alive,  and  the 
man  of  all  men  I  have  most  desired  to  see.  If  I 
could  get  into  his  power,  I  thought  that  was  the 
first  thing;  and  I  thought  of  nothing  else.  So  I 
jumped  for  it." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  69 

"  Yes,  you  jumped  for  it,"  said  Fin.  "  I  saw 
you.    But  first  you  cut  down  a  man  of  ours." 

"  Yes,  I  did,"  said  Thormod,  "  but  that  was  be- 
cause he  tried  to  cut  me  down." 

Fin  rubbed  his  chin  under  his  beard,  and  thought 
about  it.  "  Hold  your  hands  a  little,"  he  said  to 
the  men  round  about  him.  "  I  will  see  the  King 
upon  this." 

He  made  his  way  back,  and  found  the  Bishop — 
Bishop  Siffrid  it  was — as  he  went.  "  Come  with 
me  and  help  me  save  a  fine  man's  life,"  he  said. 
So  the  two  of  them  went  to  the  King. 

Fin  Ernesson  worked  hard  for  Thormod,  and 
the  Bishop  allowed  he  was  a  gallant  man.  "  That  is 
as  may  be,"  the  King  said,  "but  I  have  to  learn 
whether  he  is  only  a  fool." 

"You  will  learn  it,  sir,  in  two  words,  if  you 
will  have  him  brought  before  you." 

"  Bring  him,  then,"  said  the  King.  So  Thormod 
was  led  before  him. 

He  was  not  even  now  abashed  or  put  out  of 
countenance  before  that  great  man.  King  Olaf 
looked  sternly  at  him,  very  square  in  the  jaw,  very 


70  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

chilly  in  the  bright  blue  eyes.  Thormod  in  turn 
looked  him  full  in  the  face.  He  was  much  too 
interested  to  think  of  what  was  going  to  happen 
to  him.  The  King  did  not  speak  for  some  time. 
Then  he  said,  "  Are  you  a  fool,  or  are  you  a 
rogue  ?  " 

"  Neither,"  said  Thormod,  "  but  a  poet." 

"  You  kill  my  look-out  man,  on  my  own  ship, 
in  my  own  haven;  then  you  run  baresark  among 
my  warriors.  What  am  I  to  think  of  that?  Is 
that  your  poetry  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Thormod,  "  but  this  is  my  poetry 
which  comes  to  me  as  I  look  at  you.  I  say  that  I 
should  think  I  had  all  Heaven  in  my  two  hands 
if  I  stood  to  you  as  your  man.  And  again  I  say 
that  life  and  death  are  one  to  me  if  I  find  life 
and  death  beside  you  and  Fin." 

"  Lord,"  said  Fin,  "  that  was  well  spoken,  and 
by  a  man  of  mark."  But  King  Olaf  did  not  heed 
Fin,  considering  rather  the  man  before  him. 

"  I  see  you  are  a  wild  fellow  enough,"  he  said. 
"  Life  means  little  to  you  in  comparison  with  your 
desire.    Yet  I  see  also  that  you  will  likely  be  faith- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  71 

ful  if  I  keep  you.  How  do  you  call  yourself,  and 
whence  are  you  come  ?  " 

"  I  am  Thormod  Bearnesson  and  from  Iceland," 
the  poet  answered ;  "  and  more  than  that,  I  am 
sworn-brother  to  Thorgar  Hawarsson,  who  was  a 
man  of  yours." 

King  Olaf  nodded,  but  grimly.  "  So  he  was ; 
and  I  told  him  when  he  came  to  me  that  he  would 
not  be  lucky.  Nor  was  he.  But  you,  from  the  look 
of  you,  may  fare  better  than  he  did." 

"  If  I  cause  not  one  man  at  least  to  fare  worse 
than  my  brother,"  said  Thormod,  "  I  shall  deem 
myself  the  unluckiest  man  living." 

"How  many  men's  deaths  lie  at  your  door?" 
the  King  asked,  not  noticing  his  declared  purpose. 

Thormod  rapidly  reckoned.  "  I  have  slain  six 
men,  lord,"  he  said ;  "  and  that  man  in  the  bows 
of  your  ship  was  the  sixth." 

"And  how  old  are  you?" 

"  I  am  not  yet  thirty  years  old,"  said  Thormod. 

"If  you  live  another  thirty  years,"  the  King  said, 
"  you  will  have  done  slaughter  enough." 

"  There  is  but  one  man,  so  far  as  I  can  tell,  whom 


72  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

I  must  call  to  account,"  Thormod  told  him,  "  and 
that  is  Thorgrim  Troll,  who  basely  slew  my  brother 
Thorgar.  It  was  to  that  end  I  left  Iceland,  and 
to  that  end  I  jumped  into  your  ship.  I  should 
have  come  to  you  before  had  I  not  been  carried 
to  Denmark,  for  I  knew  very  well  that  you  would 
never  let  your  man's  death  go  unavenged.  Now  I 
am  here  and  in  your  hands  I  am  sure  you  will  not." 

The  King  turned  to  the  Bishop  and  Fin,  and 
heard  them  both  plead  for  Thormod.  He  did  that 
more  for  the  form's  sake  than  for  any  other  reason. 
His  mind  was  made  up  already.  Then  he  said  to 
the  guards  who  held  him,  "  Cut  him  free; "  and  to 
Thormod,  "  You  pay  ransom  for  my  man's  life 
with  your  own,  which  I  consider  belongs  to  me. 
You  have  been  open  with  me,  and  I  approve  of  it. 
Now  serve  me  well,  both  with  head  and  hand." 

Thormod  broke  out  into  a  verse,  and  King  Olaf 
heard  him  through.  "  I  think  we  shall  suit  each 
other,"  he  said.  Then  Thormod  walked  forward 
with  Fin  Ernesson,  and  was  made  much  of. 


A  ship  came  in  from  Greenland  that  autumn, 
and  the  master  of  it  was  a  man  called  Scuf.  Scuf 
was  a  Greenlander  by  birth  and  the  long  settlement 
of  his  family;  a  middle-aged,  reputable  man  well 
known  in  Norway  and  highly  esteemed  by  King 
Olaf.  When  Thormod  heard  who  and  whence  he 
was,  he  said,  "  Here's  my  chance  come  suddenly," 
and  went  to  see  Scuf. 

They  took  to  each  other,  though  Scuf  was  a  man 
of  five-and-f orty ;  but,  as  he  explained,  brave  men 
were  rare  in  any  country  that  he  had  ever  seen, 
and  ought  to  stick  together.  "  And  it  will  be  well 
for  you,"  he  said,  "  to  have  me  at  your  back  if  you 
are  going  adventuring  in  Greenland  against  Thor- 
grim  Troll.  As  well  might  you  work  against  Eric 
Red,  or  nearly  so.  What  Eric  Red  is  to  Ericsfirth, 
so  is  Thorgrim  Troll  to  Einarsfirth.  What !  a  man 
of  wealth  and  lands,  with  a  following  from  here 

73 


74  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

to  Easter.  And  a  stout,  gusty  man,  a  great  eater, 
an  abounding  drinker;  a  man  of  blood,  a  man  of 
iron.  And  if  he  is  stirred  in  his  pride,  nothing 
will  serve  him  but  your  life." 

"  He  shall  serve  himself  of  mine  if  he  can," 
Thormod  said,  "  but  I  hope  to  be  beforehand  with 
him." 

"  You  sail  with  me,"  said  Scuf,  "  and  you  put 
yourself  in  my  hands.  I  know  the  country  and  I 
know  the  man.  I  bear  him  no  grudge  myself,  for 
he  has  never  done  me  any  harm  that  I  know  of. 
But  a  friend  is  a  friend,  and  he  is  no  friend  of 
mine.     I  need  say  no  more." 

"  Not  a  word,"  said  Thormod,  "  for  I  under- 
stand you  very  well,  and  hope  to  deserve  your 
opinion." 

After  that  Thormod  waited,  and  served  King 
Olaf  with  his  best,  until  the  winter  should  be  over. 

When  Scuf  was  ready  for  sea,  Thormod  made 
his  suit  to  his  master. 

"  Greenland  ?  "  said  Olaf.  "  And  what  will  you 
do  in  Greenland?  Trouble,  I  doubt.  You  will  be 
for  finding  Thorgrim  Troll,  I  suppose." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  75 

"  There  are  things  to  settle  with  him,  certainly," 
said  Thormod. 

"  You  will  find  him  a  hard  dealer,  and  a  close 
one,"  said  the  King. 

"  They  tell  me  that  I  am  a  good  singling  dog, 
sir." 

"You  will  have  need  to  be.  Well,  you  shall 
go,  and  I  wish  you  good  speed.  And  if  I 
have  my  will  with  you,  you  will  come  back 
to  me  when  you  have  finished  with  Thorgrim 
Troll." 

"  That  I  shall  do,  lord.  I  have  told  you  what 
my  wish  is — to  live  and  die  with  you." 

Olaf  gave  him  a  ring  for  his  finger  and  a  sword 
for  his  side,  and  so  they  parted. 

Walking  down  to  the  ship  together,  Scuf  and 
Thormod  went  aboard.  Presently  they  saw  a 
stranger  mount  the  gangway  and  come  towards 
them :  a  huge  man,  with  shoulders  like  a  bull's  and 
the  chest  of  a  horse.  His  hood  was  over  his  brows, 
so  that  little  was  to  be  seen  of  his  face  but  a  long 
black  beard.  He  was  heavily  armed,  and  shook  the 
gangway  with  his  sturdy  tread. 


76  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  Who  is  this  monster?  "  Thormod  asked.    Scuf 
did  not  answer,  but  went  to  meet  the  stranger. 
"  I  bid  you  hail,"  said  Scuf. 
The  heavy  man  put  back  his  hood.    "  And  I  greet 
you  fairly,"  he  said. 

"  If  you  have  business  with  me,"  Scuf  said,  "  I 
must  know  your  name." 

"  Soon  told,"  the  man  said.    "  My  name  is  Gest." 

"  And  whence  are  your  people,  Gest  ?  " 

He  tossed  his  head  sideways.     "  Spread  abroad 

eastwards;  spread  abroad  west."     And  he  jerked 

his  head  the  other  way.     "  Who  knows  where  they 

are,  or  are  not  ?  " 

"  And  how  can  I  serve  you  now  ?  " 
"  I  ask  you  for  my  passage  to  Greenland." 
Scuf  considered.     "  I  don't  know  how  that  may 
be.     I  know  less  of  you  than  you  seem  to  know 
of  me.    And  I  have  a  ship's  crew  to  think  of." 

"  What  have  they  to  do  with  it  ? "  said  Gest. 
"If  you  are  master  of  the  ship  I  take  it  to  be 
your  affair.  But  if  your  men  think  that  they  will 
have  to  work  for  me,  do  you  tell  them  that  I  shall 
do  my  share  of  the  work,  and  a  little  over.     And 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  77 

I  see  you  have  a  passenger  already,  and  can  hardly 
refuse  a  second." 

Scuf  looked  at  Thormod,  who  nodded  and  smiled. 
"Shall  I?"  the  look  enquired. 

"Why  not?"  the  nod  replied. 

"  Well,"  said  he  to  Gest,  "  it  shall  be  so."  Gest 
saluted  him  and  went  back  into  the  town  to  fetch 
his  gear.  It  was  nearly  as  big  as  himself,  and  two 
men  did  not  suffice  to  bring  it  aboard.  He  saw 
it  stowed,  and  immediately  turned  himself  to  be 
of  use.  He  worked  well,  but  was  very  grim  and 
silent.  Thormod  thought  him  an  oddity  and  worked 
hard,  after  his  manner,  in  studying  him.  At  noon 
they  put  out  to  sea. 

The  voyage  was  a  bad  one;  heavy  weather,  dan- 
gerous seas,  much  snow,  and  little  rest.  All  worked 
hard,  but  Gest  did  more  than  any  one,  and  Thormod 
less.  It  was  long  before  these  two  understood  each 
other,  if  indeed  they  ever  did.  Gest  thought  noth- 
ing of  poets,  and  Thormod  was  jealous  of  the  man's 
strength  and  skill.  Once  at  least  they  nearly  came 
to  blood-letting.  That  was  when  the  two  of  them 
were  at  work  baling  ship.     Thormod  was  below 


78  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

in  the  hold,  filling  the  buckets ;  Gest  at  the  gunwale, 
emptying  them.  Thormod  as  he  grew  tired  did 
not  hand  them  high  enough  to  please  Gest,  who 
had  to  stoop  down  to  reach  them.  "  Send  them  up 
smartlier,  you  half-man,"  Gest  growled.  But  Thor- 
mod took  no  notice,  or  at  least  made  no  response. 
Gest  bore  it  for  a  little  while  longer,  then  presently 
let  a  bucket  fall,  and  drenched  Thormod  to  the 
skin.  That  set  him  on  fire;  he  jumped  up  and 
caught  Gest  by  the  beard.  There  was  a  sharp  tussle, 
and  then  the  pair  of  them  parted  and  sought  for 
their  weapons.  Scuf  stopped  them,  luckily,  before 
the  fight  began.  He  made  them  promise  to  keep 
terms  with  each  other  while  the  voyage  lasted ;  and 
so  they  did.  Thormod  was  not  one  to  keep  a  grudge 
in  his  mind. 

They  were  a  long  time  at  sea,  and  once  came 
near  shipwreck,  when  a  wave  broke  over  them, 
snapped  the  yard,  and  carried  the  sail  overboard. 
Gest  was  invaluable  then;  without  him  they  had 
lost  the  sail.  Then  it  was  a  matter  of  splicing  the 
yard,  since  they  had  no  other.  Scuf  set  Gest  and 
Thormod  at  it,  and  each  scoffed  at  the  other.    Gest 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  79 

said,  "  Nay,  let  the  poet  shape  the  thing  for  you. 
He'll  sing  them  together  while  you  and  I  take  our 
rest." 

"  Never,"  said  Thormod.  "  Give  the  two  pieces 
to  Gest,  and  bid  him  sit  upon  them.  You'll  never 
part  them  again." 

"  Let  me  see  you  both  at  it,"  Scuf  said,  "  and 
then  we  shall  know  whether  brain  or  brawn  makes 
the  better  workman."  To  it  they  went  with  their 
axes,  and  Thormod  was  done  by  far  the  first. 
Gest  chipped  away,  working  his  tongue  in  his  cheek 
like  a  boy  at  a  writing-lesson.  Then  they  fitted 
the  two  ends  together,  and  even  Gest  owned  that 
had  they  made  a  good  job  of  it.  The  splicing  was 
left  to  him  by  common  consent,  and  when  that  was 
done  they  were  able  to  sail  again. 

It  was  late  in  the  year  when  they  ran  into  Erics- 
firth  and  came  to  anchor  in  view  of  the  town. 
There,  when  the  cargo  had  been  taken  ashore,  Gest 
took  leave  of  Scuf  and  Thormod.  To  the  poet 
he  said  at  parting,  "  It  is  likely  we  shall  meet 
again." 

"How  will  that  be?"  Thormod  asked  him. 


80  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

Gest,  with  his  expressionless  eyes,  looked  over 
the  dreary  snow-covered  hills.  "  Common  good 
fortune  or  common  ill  fortune  may  bring  us  to- 
gether. If  it  does,  let  your  wit  be  mated  to  my 
sinew,  and  maybe  we  shall  find  each  other  of  use. 
Let  me  tell  you  this,  that  I  knew  your  friend  Thor- 
gar  Hawarsson  once  upon  a  time." 

Thormod  pricked  up  his  ears.  "Did  you  so? 
Then  it  was  here  that  you  knew  him  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Gest,  "  it  was  not.  It  was  in  Nor- 
way."   Then  they  parted — but  they  met  again. 


XI 


Greenland,  great,  gaunt,  empty  country,  half 
under  ice  and  snow  the  year  through,  and  all  smoth- 
ered in  fog-fleeces  for  a  six-month  winter,  was  but 
newly  colonised  when  Thormod  reached  it.  Two 
firths  run  up  into  it,  one  from  the  south  and  one 
from  the  west.  Upon  the  shores  of  them  huddled 
the  Norwegians  who  had  settled  the  country  and 
made  their  living  as  best  they  could.  Eric  Red 
was  the  great  man  of  Ericsfirth,  which  had  him- 
self found,  then  settled,  then  named,  and  now 
governed.  The  other  settlement  was  called  Einars- 
firth,  and  there  Thorgrim  Troll  and  his  clansmen 
did  as  they  pleased.  The  two  colonies  had  no  in- 
terdependence, and  the  authority  which  King  Olaf 
claimed  was  more  shadow  than  substance. 

Scuf  knew  Ericsfirth,  and  was  on  the  best  of 
terms  with  Eric  and  his  feudatories.  The  first  man 
who  came  to  meet  him  when  the  ship  was  moored 

81 


82  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

was  one  Thorkel  Leifsson,  who  lived  at  Brent-lithe, 
and  looked  across  the  firth  to  Stockness,  which  was 
where  Scuf  himself  lived.  It  was  to  Thorkel  that 
Scuf  recommended  Thormod,  whom  he  named  as 
court-poet  to  the  King  and  a  fine  young  man  in 
all  ways.  Thorkel  at  once  offered  him  hospitality, 
and  Thormod  took  it  gladly.  He  and  Scuf  parted 
unwillingly,  but  were  to  meet  again  at  Christmas, 
when  Thorkel  meant  to  have  a  Yule-feast. 

Brent-lithe  was  a  great  house,  with  a  fine  hall, 
and  a  guest-room  close  by.  That  room  was  divided 
up  by  curtains  for  the  sleeping-quarters  of  Thorkel 
and  his  friends.  In  the  hall  all  the  servants — and 
there  were  many — used  to  sleep.  There  were  maids 
as  well  as  men  about  the  place,  and  one  of  the  girls 
was  sent  in  to  Thormod  to  wait  upon  him,  pull  his 
clothes  off,  and  make  his  bed  ready. 

Thormod  noticed  her  at  once,  for  he  had  a  sharp 
eye  for  a  girl.  She  was  not  at  all  handsome,  but 
rather  pale  and  mean-looking;  nevertheless  she  had 
a  good  figure,  and  a  power  of  attracting  men  which 
he  felt  at  once,  though  he  did  not  understand  it. 
He  asked  her  name,  and  she  told  him,  Sigrid.    Did 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  83 

she  come  from  Iceland?  She  said,  No,  but  her 
father  and  mother  had  lived  there. 

"And  are  you  married,  Sigrid?" 

She  gave  a  half-laugh.     "  No,  nor  likely  to  be." 

"  I  should  think  nothing  more  likely,"  Thormod 
said,  "  judging  by  what  I  feel  about  you." 

Then  she  said,  "  You  had  better  not  feel  much 
about  me." 

"Why  not?" 

"  Because  Lodin  will  have  something  to  say 
about  it." 

"And  Lodin — who  is  he?" 

"  He  is  steward  here.  That  tall  man,  red- 
bearded,  who  met  you  when  you  came  in." 

"  I  know  the  man  now,"  said  Thormod.  "  And 
is  Lodin  your  sweetheart  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  that,"  she  said. 

"Shall  I  ask  him?" 

"  Better  say  nothing  to  him." 

"  But  if  he  say  something  to  me  about  you — 
when  then  ?  " 

"  Then  you  will  know  what  I  can't  tell  you." 

"  Well,  Sigrid,  I  am  glad  that  you  have  been  told 


84  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

to  wait  upon  me.  It  will  send  me  to  bed  in  good 
time." 

"Why?"  she  asked. 

"  Because  you  draw  me." 

She  looked  at  him,  laughed,  then  looked  away. 
Thormod  kissed  her,  and  she  kissed  him  back,  but 
wouldn't  stay  any  longer. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  find  out  who  and  what 
Sigrid  was,  or  in  what  relation  she  stood  to  the 
red-bearded  and  red-eyed  Lodin;  but  Thormod  did 
not  on  any  of  those  counts  cease  his  commerce.  He 
had  been  wiser  if  he  had — but  then  he  would  not 
have  been  Thormod.  As  he  was,  and  as  she  was, 
it  ended  in  trouble.  Lodin  spoke  to  her,  and  she 
tossed  her  head.  Then  he  watched  her,  and,  as 
it  seemed  to  him,  she  was  betraying  him.  One 
night  after  supper,  when  Thormod  went  off  to  his 
sleeping-quarters,  and  Sigrid  made  to  follow  him, 
Lodin  with  a  curse  sprang  after  her,  caught  her 
round  the  waist  and  held  her.  She  struggled,  say- 
ing, "  Let  me  alone,  let  me  alone,"  but  could  not 
get  away.  Thormod  came  back  from  the  doorway, 
took  her  hands  and  tried  to  pull  her  free.     There 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  85 

was  an  unseemly  tussle  and  much  heat :  then  Thor- 
kel  cut  in  and  stopped  it  all.  "  Let  her  alone,"  he 
bade  his  man.  "  She  will  come  to  no  harm  in 
there.  Is  there  not  a  light  burning,  and  am  not  I 
there?  If  you  can't  trust  her  there  you  can  trust 
her  nowhere,  and  are  better  without  her."  Lodin 
let  her  go,  and  she  followed  the  two  into  the  guest- 
house. Lodin  would  have  beaten  her  if  he  dared, 
but  was  afraid  that  she  would  tell  of  him. 

Then  came  the  Yule-feast  at  Brent-lithe,  with  a 
great  gathering  to  drink  Thorkel's  ale.  Scuf  and 
Bearne,  his  partner,  came  over  from  Stockness, 
Gest  came  from  Wick,  and  many  others.  Here, 
for  the  first  time,  Thormod  learned  what  lay  be- 
fore him  in  the  vengeance  he  had  so  long  medi- 
tated.   He  found  it  was  likely  to  be  a  heavy  matter. 

Thorgrim  Troll  was  the  chief  man  in  the  settle- 
ment at  Einarsfirth.  He  had  a  great  retinue  of 
his  own,  to  say  nothing  of  his  family.  Four 
nephews  he  had,  all  fighting-men.  Bodwar  was  the 
eldest,  himself  older  than  Thormod;  then  came 
Falgar,  Thorkel  and  Thord.  But  that  was  not  all. 
In  the  house  was  Thorgrim's  sister  Thordis  and 


86  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

Hamund  her  husband,  with  those  four  sons  of 
theirs ;  near  by  was  another  sister  settled — at  Long- 
ness.  She  was  Thorunn,  and  she  had  a  son  named 
Leot,  reputed  one  of  the  strongest  men  on  the  firth. 
Between  them  the  clan  overrode  the  countryside, 
and  those  who  did  not  stand  in  with  them  had  a 
hard  life  of  it.  One  man  there  was  who,  Gest 
said,  was  not  friendly  with  them,  a  steady,  peace- 
able man  called  Sigurd.  He  lived  with  his  mother 
at  Cliff,  and  might  be  useful.  "  Your  time — if  you 
have  a  time — "  Gest  said,  "  is  not  now,  but  in  the 
spring,  when  they  hold  the  Moot,  which  you  in 
Iceland  call  the  Thing." 

Thormod  wished  to  know  more  of  the  killing 
of  his  friend.  He  found  out  that  it  had  been  as 
he  had  been  told,  except  that  the  slaughter  had 
been  done  on  the  water.  "  Thorgar  and  his  friends 
were  in  a  boat — nine  of  them  altogether.  Thor- 
grim  Troll  and  his  five  nephews  were  waiting  in  a 
creek,  in  a  longship,  and  rowed  out  and  across  the 
boat's  bows.  Then  all  nine  were  slain  in  the  boat 
or  in  the  water.  Not  one  escaped.  Thorgar  was 
killed  as  he  swam,  with  a  harpoon  in  his  back." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  87 

"  How  do  you  know  that  none  escaped?  "  Thor- 
mod  wished  to  know. 

Gest  said,  "  In  a  curious  way.  I  will  tell  you, 
if  you  wish  to  know." 

"  I  do  wish." 

Gest  said,  "  Two  brothers,  named  Calf  and 
Steinolf,  lived  in  Garpsdale,  and  live  there  still. 
From  them  I  have  the  tale.  Now,  in  Olaf sdale,  not 
far  away,  there  was  a  widow  woman  called  Thordis, 
and  a  good  woman  she  was  and  is,  and  a  well-to-do 
woman.  She  had  a  son  Eyolf,  and  a  kinsman 
Thorgeir,  whom  she  brought  up  from  the  breast. 
They  called  him  Thorgeir  Measureless,  because  he 
was  exorbitant  in  all  that  he  took,  and  set  no 
bounds  to  his  needs.  Now  these  two  were  friends, 
such  as  I  daresay  were  you  and  Thorgar  Hawars- 
son;  but  they  were  boisterous  company  for  each 
other,  full  of  tricks  and  all  manner  of  rough  play, 
and  at  it  all  day  long.  There  was  no  place  for 
them  in  the  house  or  out  of  it;  and  no  getting 
any  work  done  when  they  were  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  it.  Well,  one  day  it  happened  that  -they 
were  wrestling  in  the  hall,  where  an  old  wife  sat 


88  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

at  her  needlework;  and  if  they  dragged  it  off  her 
knees  once  they  dragged  it  fifty  times.  So  at  last 
she  grew  angry,  and  muttered  to  herself;  and  then 
she  had  a  vision.  She  said,  '  You  may  do  your 
worst  to  me  and  my  needlework,  but  I  can  see 
worse  than  that  in  it.  Now  I  tell  you  that  you 
two  foster-brothers  will  break  friendship  and  as  ill 
as  may  be  you  will  do  it' 

"  They  listened  to  her,  deep-breathing,  with  their 
arms  about  each  other's  necks.  They  laughed  at 
her  and  looked  at  each  other.  '  We  hope  your 
needlework  is  better  than  your  spaedom,  mother.' 

"  She  said,  '  Ah,  you  may  laugh,  but  that  will 
be  the  end  of  your  play.' 

"  Now  those  two  went  out  to  Norway  in  the 
summer,  and  there  bought  a  ship,  and  put  to  sea. 
When  they  were  minded  to  come  home  they  had  an 
ill  voyage,  and  made  Borgfirth  late  in  the  harvest. 
Then  it  was  that  they  disagreed  about  a  landing. 
Eyolf  was  for  running  before  the  wind  into  Stream- 
firth,  but  Thorgeir  was  minded  to  keep  the  ship 
on  her  course,  to  round  the  Jokul,  and  get  in  at 
Dogworthness.     There  seemed  no  way  of  settling 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  89 

it  but  by  a  vote,  and  those  who  wished  to  land 
at  once  carried  it,  because  most  were  sick  of  the 
sea.  But  there  was  bad  blood  over  it  between  the 
foster-brothers,  who  came  as  near  as  might  be  to 
crossing  swords — only  they  were  parted  for  the 
time.  Directly  they  landed  in  Streamfirth  Thorgeir 
took  to  horse  and  rode  west  into  Garpsdale.  There 
he  stayed  with  Calf  and  Steinolf.  Eyolf  stayed 
aboard-ship  till  she  was  laid  up,  and  then  went  home 
to  his  mother  in  Olafsdale.  That  winter's  end  the 
old  spae-wife  died.  She  died  on  the  Monday  after 
Palm  Sunday  and  had  to  be  taken  a-shipboard 
to  go  down  to  Holar,  which  was  the  nearest 
church. 

"  Now  Eyolf  and  his  men  took  her  into  church 
and  set  her  down.  Then  the  weather  grew  thick, 
and  it  came  on  heavy  snow,  and  then  a  frost  that 
held  up  the  ship  in  the  sound,  and  spread 
thick  ice  far  out  into  the  firth.  It  was  need- 
ful that  Eyolf  and  his  folk  should  stay  where 
they  were  till  Easter  was  past — and  so  they 
did. 

"  On  Thursday  after  Easter  Eyolf  borrowed  a 


90  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

horse  and  set  off  to  ride  home.  He  rode  alone  by 
his  own  wish.  He  rode  east  of  Reekness,  then  east 
about  Bearfirth  and  Crooksfirth. 

"  Now  he  was  not  far  from  Garpsdale  on  his 
journey,  though  he  was  not  yet  in  sight  of  it,  when 
Calf  and  Steinolf,  who  were  out  of  doors  under  the 
lee  of  a  wall,  saw  men  walking  along  the  plain  in 
a  row.  They  carried  weapons,  and  there  were  nine 
of  them.  They  walked  in  file  over  the  snow,  and 
past  the  house,  a  few  fields  below  it.  When  they 
were  within  fair  view  it  was  seen  that  they  were 
bare-headed,  sightless,  and  covered  with  blood. 
Looking  closely  at  them,  Calf  and  Steinolf  seemed 
to  know  them.  They  were  Thorgar  Hawarsson, 
who  walked  in  front,  and  eight  men  following  him. 
They  went  along  the  plain  past  the  house,  came 
to  the  river  that  runs  eastward  from  the  house, 
and  there  seemed  to  fade  into  nothing  at  all.  Calf 
and  Steinolf  were  beaten  down  by  this  sight,  and 
neither  to  each  other,  nor  to  any  one  could  they 
speak  of  it.  They  went  indoors  and  sat  down,  and 
so  remained  without  speech. 

"  One  of  their  hands  was  in  the  byre  when  those 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  91 

things  took  place.  He  also  saw  a  man — but  only 
one  man — and  he  was  riding  a  fine  horse.  He  was 
armed,  helm,  spear  and  shield,  and  rode  past  the 
house  the  very  way  which  the  ghosts  had  taken. 
The  cowman  knew  him.  It  was  Eyolf  on  his  way 
home.  He  went  indoors  with  his  news.  Thorgeir 
Measureless  was  in  the  hall,  and  the  two  brothers 
also.  '  Eyolf  of  Olafsdale  is  riding  by  the  house/ 
says  the  man,  and  Thorgeir  pricked  up  his  ears. 
He  said  nothing  to  anybody,  but  picked  a  spear  from 
the  rack,  and  went  out  just  as  he  was.  Outdoors 
he  saw  Eyolf,  and  ran  after  him,  but  Eyolf  did 
not  heed  him,  and  kept  on  his  way  till  he  reached 
the  river.  There  he  was  delayed  by  the  ice-flood 
and  had  to  seek  out  a  fording-place.  Thorgeir  called 
out,  '  Hold,  man,  hold.  Wait  for  me  if  you  dare.' 
Eyolf  heard  that,  looked  round,  saw  who  it  was. 
In  a  moment  he  came  down  from  his  horse,  and 
ran  to  meet  his  foster-brother.  They  met  full  front, 
each  with  his  spear.  In  the  same  encounter  each 
ran  the  other  through  with  the  spear,  and  they  fell 
together  and  so  lay.  So  the  spae-wife's  prediction 
was  fulfilled. 


92  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  When  Calf  and  Steinolf  found  them  they  were 
not  yet  dead. 

"  Now  that  was  after  Easter,  and  certifies  me 
when  Thorgar  Hawarsson  met  his  death." 

Thormod  said,  "  You  are  right.  But  you  know 
otherwise  that  they  were  killed  in  the  water." 

"  Yes,  that  is  common  report  in  Greenland,"  said 
Gest. 

Thormod  said,  "  And  you,  Gest,  are  you  minded 
to  stand  in  with  me  ?  " 

Gest  shook  his  head.  "  It  has  been  revealed  to 
me  that  the  vengeance  is  to  be  yours,  and  that  you 
will  succeed  in  it,  though  hardly.  But  if  I  can  help 
you  I  will — so  far  as  it  is  lawful." 

"And  who  reveaeld  these  things  to  you?" 

"  It  was  King  Olaf ,"  said  Gest,  "  who  came  to 
my  bedside  as  I  was  lying  awake,  and  told  it  all 
to  me." 

"  He  might  have  told  me  something,"  said  Thor- 
mod ;  "  but  these  things  do  not  come  to  me.  As  it 
is,  I  take  it  from  you." 

These  things  set  in  order  in  his  mind,  Thormod 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  93 

gave  himself  to  the  feasting,  and  enjoyed  himself. 
He  was  happy,  and  his  friends  were  happy  in  him. 
But  when  it  was  all  over  and  the  guests  were  going 
away,  there  came  upon  him  the  trouble  due  on 
Sigrid's  account. 

There  was  much  bustle  while  the  boats  were  get- 
ting ready,  and  all  the  gear  taken  down  and  stowed 
aboard.  Scuf  was  down  at  the  quay,  Thorkel  was 
was  with  him;  Lodin  and  the  servants  were  run- 
ning to  and  fro ;  the  house  was  emptied  except  for 
the  maids,  and  for  Thormod  and  Bearne,  who  were 
taking  their  ease  in  the  hall.  Thormod  lay  on  his 
back  along  a  bench,  supporting  his  head  in  his 
clasped  hands.  Bearne  sat  by  the  table.  They 
talked  idly.  Presently  Lodin  came  in  from  the 
quay,  four  men  with  him.  Thormod  took  no  no- 
tice, but  Bearne  looked  round  to  see  who  it  was. 
He  did  not  see  that  Lodin's  red  eyes  were  fixed 
and  angry;  but  he  said,  "What  is  it  you  want?  " 

"  What  is  it  I  want?  "  said  Lodin.  "  Why,  lum- 
ber for  Scuf's  boat — and  here  is  some  that  we  can 
do  without  at  Brent-lithe."  So  saying,  he  caught 
Thormod  by  the  feet,  pulled  him  to  the  floor,  and, 


94  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  Here,"  he  called  to  the  men  in  the  door,  "  pull  out 
this  evil  carcase,  and  let  Scuf  take  it  over  the  firth." 
Thormod  was  laughing  at  him,  but  he  and  one  of 
the  men  began  to  haul  him  along  the  floor.  Then 
Bearne  said,  "  Enough  of  this  outrage,"  and 
jumped  up  and  caught  Lodin  round  the  middle. 
He  swung  him  round  two  or  three  times,  and  then 
let  go.  Lodin  went  swinging  along  the  hall  and 
fell  in  a  heap.  Bearne  cursed  the  men  roundly  for 
what  they  were  doing,  and  sent  them  out  of  doors; 
but  Thormod  took  it  all  coolly. 

Presently  they  all  left  the  hall  and  went  down  to 
the  boat  at  the  quayside.  Scuf  was  aboard,  and 
Thorkel  on  the  quay  was  talking  to  him.  Bearne 
was  ready,  waiting  till  their  conversation  was  over. 
Lodin  and  his  men  stood  together  a  little  way  off, 
sharing  the  presents  which  they  had  been  given. 
Nobody  was  thinking  of  Thormod  as  he  came 
slowly  from  the  hall  and  down  the  pathway  to 
the  water;  but  as  he  passed  the  group  of  servants, 
suddenly  he  swung  his  sword  backhanded  over  his 
shoulder  and  brought  it  down  on  Lodin's  neck. 
He  felled  him  like  an  ox,  and  the  wound  was  so 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  95 

terrible  that  he  was  dead  before  he  touched  ground. 
Then  there  was  a  great  to-do.  Thorkel's  rage  blazed 
all  over  his  face.  He  called  out  to  his  men  to  kill 
Thormod;  but  Scuf  had  him  by  the  arm  and  held 
him.  Bearne  ran  up  to  Thormod  and  told  him 
to  get  into  the  ship.  So  he  did;  Bearne  jumped 
down  after  him,  and  they  threw  off  the  gangway. 
Scuf  was  left  behind  to  soothe  Thorkel,  and  settle 
the  case;  but  it  took  a  deal  of  talking.  As  for 
Sigrid,  who  had  been  much  the  cause  of  it,  she  saw 
it  all  from  the  house,  and  would  have  gone  after 
Thormod  if  she  could. 

The  rest  of  the  winter  Thormod  spent  at  Stock- 
ness,  with  Bearne  and  Scuf,  making  his  prepara- 
tions. He  had  to  choose  a  servant,  first,  and  of 
all  the  household  he  picked  out  the  most  unlikely, 
a  great,  clumsy,  ugly  dunce  of  a  man,  whose  tongue 
was  too  big  for  his  mouth.  His  name  was  Egil, 
but  they  called  him  Fool-Egil,  and  with  every  rea- 
son. "  Why  do  you  choose  such  a  blockhead  as 
that  ?  "  they  wondered. 

"  Because  I  want  a  man  who  will  do  what  I  tell 
him.     Anybody  else  of  yours  would  say,  '  That  is 


96  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

fool's  work  you  ask  for,'  and  would  be  right.  If  I 
want  fool's  work  done  I  must  have  a  fool  to  do  it." 
Another  thing  to  be  done  was  to  get  a  weapon 
made  after  his  own  mind.  Bearne,  who  was  a 
good  smith,  made  him  that.  It  was  an  axe,  with  a 
shortish  handle;  but  not  a  common  axe.  Where 
should  be  a  hammer  was  a  spike;  where  should  be 
the  broad  blade  there  was  a  knife-blade,  double- 
edged.  It  was  strong,  and  very  tough,  and  the 
edges  of  it  as  sharp  as  razors.  When  these  things 
were  done  Thormod  thought  himself  ready  for  the 
Moot  at  Einarsfirth. 


XII 


The  Moot  was  to  be  held  at  Garth,  which  is 
midway  of  the  firth;  and  when  the  weather  was 
open  and  the  ice  broken  up,  Scuf  said  that  it  was 
time  to  be  off.  He  did  not  take  a  large  company 
with  him,  because  he  said  that  however  many  he 
took  they  would  be  outnumbered  there,  "  should  it 
come  to  fighting."  For  himself,  he  said,  he  was 
not  a  fighting  man,  and  he  proved  it  by  being  care- 
ful not  to  inquire  what  business  led  Thormod  into 
the  other  country.  Bearne  knew  more  about  it 
than  he  did,  for  Bearne  had  not  made  a  weapon  for 
nothing. 

So  then  they  ran  down  Ericsfirth  into  the  open 
sea,  and  with  a  fair  wind  from  the  south-west 
sailed  up  Einarsfirth  without  difficulty,  and  saw 
presently  the  church  at  Garth,  and  the  booths  for 
the  Moot-men  laid  out  in  a  broad  green  meadow. 
"  Those  booths,"   Scuf  said,   "  are  for  Thorgrim 

97; 


98  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

and  the  men  of  his  allegiance.  We  shall  hold  on 
round  that  spit,  and  find  our  quarters  behind  the 
knoll." 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  shipping  to  be  seen, 
and  much  activity  ashore.  Men  were  busy  airing 
and  cleaning  the  booths,  and  others  were  carrying 
merchandise  ashore  for  the  stalls  in  the  fair  which 
was  held  between  the  two  settlements.  Thorgrim 
Troll's  ship  had  not  come  in  yet,  but  was  expected 
daily.  Meantime  there  was  plenty  to  be  done,  and 
plenty  to  see.  Thormod  was  very  much  amused 
and  spent  his  time  either  watching  other  men  work, 
or  considering  the  lay  of  the  land.  He  had  no 
plans  ready,  but  that  was  no  concern  to  him.  He 
felt  that  he  was  being  blown  forward  to  his  des- 
tiny as  by  a  strong  wind,  such  a  wind  as  had  driven 
them  up  the  firth,  and  was  now  driving  Thorgrim 
Troll  to  the  same  place.  One  thing  about  the  shores 
of  Einarsfirth  he  noted,  and  that  was  that  the  fur- 
ther side  was  cut  up  into  narrow  creeks,  and  that 
there  were  no  good  landing-places  there.  The  land 
shelved  very  much;  there  were  ledges  of  rock,  some 
of  them  not  covered  by  the  tide.    "  If  I  have  to  run 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  99 

for  it,"  he  thought,  "  it  will  be  over  there  that  I 
must  travel.  It  will  trouble  them  to  bring  a  long- 
boat in  after  me."  He  saw  another  thing  pres- 
ently :  the  banks  and  islands  of  rock  stretched  away 
down  the  firth  as  far  as  the  eye  could  carry.  "  A 
man  could  slip  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  firth 
without  treading  either  shore."  He  took  the  trou- 
ble to  make  sure  of  that  before  he  left  the  thing 
alone. 

A  day  or  two  later  he  was  told,  "  Thorgrim  Troll 
is  coming  in."  Bearne  told  him,  and  Thormod's 
face  lighted  up. 

"  That  will  be  worth  seeing."  He  went  down 
to  the  shore  with  his  friend. 

A  fine  ship  was  coming  down  the  firth  with  the 
tide,  ten  oars  to  a  side  were  pulling  her.  Others 
came  behind  her,  three  or  perhaps  four,  but  none 
presumed  to  come  abreast. 

"  He  comes  like  a  king,"  Thormod  said. 

"  And  that  is  what  he  thinks  himself,"  Bearne 
told  him.  "Why,  the  firth  is  named  after  his 
father,  and  he  claims  the  lordship  of  every  green 
patch  on  this  side,  and  of  many  on  the  other.    Soon 


ioo  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

or  late  he  will  measure  himself  with  Eric,  and  then 

we  shall  see  something." 

"  I  hope  you  won't  see  that,"  said  Thormod,  but 
Bearne  thought  it  as  well  to  take  no  notice  of 
him. 

The  ship  was  close  at  hand,  and  was  a  brave 
sight.  From  bows  to  stern  there  were  shields  along 
the  bulwarks,  and  from  amidships  to  the  poop  the 
spears  rose  as  dense  as  a  woodland.  About  the 
poop  were  great  men  standing  in  bright  helmets. 
Bearne  pointed  out  Thorgrim  himself,  seated, 
with  a  great  white  bearskin  about  his  shoul- 
ders. 

Thormod  said,  "  He's  a  big  man." 

"  Ah,"  said  Bearne,  "  you  may  say  so — but  wait 
until  you  have  seen  his  nephews." 

"Yes,  I  must  see  his  nephews  too,"  Thormod 
said,  and  studied  the  standing  chiefs  about  the 
chair. 

They  brought  the  ship  ashore;  the  men  leapt  out 
and  hauled  her  up  the  rollers.  Then  a  gangway 
was  made  fast,  and  the  spearsmen  came  down. 
After  them  the  chiefs :  there  was  not  a  man  among 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  101 

them,  Thormod  thought,  under  six  feet  in  height, 
and  he  felt  that  he  would  not  care  to  measure  his 
chest  against  any  one.  Four  young  men  came  down 
close  together;  a  family  likeness  showed  them  to 
be  kinsmen.  The  sons  of  Hamund,  Bearne  said 
they  were,  Bod  war,  Falgar,  Thorkel  and  Thord. 
They  had  sanguine  faces,  dark  hair  and  beards, 
and  light-coloured  proud  eyes.  Then  came  one 
walking  alone,  older  than  any  of  the  four,  and 
taller,  but  also  fatter.  He  had  a  fat  face,  and  a 
big  mouth  which  showed  red  through  his  beard. 
"  Who  is  that  store-pig?  "  asked  Thormod.  He 
was  told  Leot  of  Longness.  Last  came  Thorgrim 
Troll  himself  and  was  much  saluted  from  the 
shore,  though  he  took  little  notice  of  it.  He  looked 
about  to  see  who  greeted  him  and  who  did  not. 
A  man  of  fifty  or  more,  Thormod  thought.  He 
had  a  dark  flushed  face,  purple  on  the  cheeks,  a 
broad  grey-beard,  small  pig's  eyes,  which  showed 
a  good  deal  of  the  white,  and  a  nose  out  of  the 
straight.  "  Somebody  punched  that  for  him  in  his 
youth,"  said  Thormod,  "  and  he  has  been  touchy 
about  it  ever  since."     The  great  man  passed  so 


102  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

close  that  Thormod  felt  the  bearskin  brush  against 
his  leg,  and  could  hear  the  short  vehement  breath- 
ing of  his  gross  body.  He  himself  grew  hot  all 
over  at  the  moment,  and  the  hairs  on  his  back 
bristled  and  stood  up. 

When  they  had  all  gone  up  to  their  booths  the 
men  went  back  into  the  ship  and  began  to  clear 
her  of  the  arms  and  fishing-gear.  All  these  things 
they  threw  ashore  as  they  came.  Thormod  picked 
up  a  harpoon  from  one  of  the  heaps,  and  began 
to  muse  over  it  as  his  way  was.  Presently  one 
of  the  ship-men  made  a  snatch  at  it.  "  Much  use 
to  you,  that  weapon,  I  engage,"  he  said.  Thormod, 
still  holding  the  thing,  looked  at  it. 

"  You  think  I  know  nothing  of  harpooning,"  he 
said.  "  But  there  are  more  uses  than  one  for  a 
harpoon." 

The  man  gaped.  "  It  would  puzzle  you  to  find 
any  use  for  it." 

Then  Thormod  touched  his  axe  which  was  at 
his  side.  "  I  might  find  a  handier  weapon — but  a 
harpoon  would  serve  me  at  a  pinch."  He  dropped 
it  then,  and  turned  back  to  walk  up  the  shore. 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  103 

He  saw  them  raising  Thorgrim's  standard  outside 
his  booth,  and  stood  to  watch  them.  How  long 
would  it  stay  there  ?  He  saw  that  this  booth  stood 
apart  from  the  others,  at  the  end  of  a  street  of 
them,  and  noted  the  place. 


XIII 

Thormod  spied  for  his  opportunity,  but  had  to 
be  patient,  for  he  could  not  find  it  for  some  time. 
It  is  true  that  Thorgrim  Troll  was  to  be  seen  every 
day;  but  so  were  his  people,  and  he  was  never 
without  a  following.  It  was  to  be  seen  how  en- 
tirely he  ruled  the  Assembly  whenever  it  was  held. 
It  was  his  men  only  who  were  suffered  to  be  there 
in  arms;  he  himself  sat  as  president  of  every  meet- 
ing, and  no  verdict  could  be  given  unless  he  ap- 
proved of  it.  In  the  booths  he  used  less  ceremony, 
and  seemed  indeed  to  do  his  best  to  be  popular.  He 
used  to  sit  out  the  evenings  on  a  stool  outside  his 
own  booth,  and  there,  when  he  had  a  goodly  circle 
about  him,  he  would  tell  tales,  make  jokes,  and 
talk  about  himself  and  his  family  till  a  late  hour. 
Thormod  found  that  he  was  best  away  from  these 
parties,  for  the  man  made  him  so  angry  that  he 

104 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  105 

feared  he  might  lose  control  of  himself,  and,  with 
that,  his  life  into  the  bargain.  His  plan,  there- 
fore, was  to  send  his  man  Egil  to  listen,  and  come 
back  with  a  report  of  what  might  be  going  on. 

That  went  on  for  some  time,  and  as  it  fell  out 
Thormod  was  mostly  left  alone  in  the  booth  every 
evening.  Egil  had  nothing  out  of  the  common  to 
tell  him,  and  with  the  sharp  ears  he  had  he  could 
mostly  tell  by  the  laughter  or  clamour  of  the  crowd 
how  things  were  over  the  hill. 

One  night  he  lay  asleep,  alone  in  the  hut.  It 
was  chilly,  and  he  had  covered  himself  with  his 
fur  cloak.  It  was  fur  on  both  sides — black  and 
white.     Egil  came  in  presently  and  woke  him. 

"  Master,  you  should  be  in  the  booths  yonder. 
There  is  rare  sport." 

Thormod  listened,  but  could  hear  nothing. 
"  What  are  they  doing  then  ?  " 

"  It  is  at  Thorgrim's  booth — half  the  Moot  folk 
is  there." 

"Yes,  yes — but  what  are  they  doing?" 

"  Thorgrim  Troll  is  telling  them  a  tale." 

"What  is  it  about?" 


106  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"Ah,  that's  more  than  I  can  tell  you,  being  a 
fool  at  such  things.  All  I  can  say  is  that  the  people 
sit  as  quiet  as  mice  round  his  stool,  taking  in  every 
word  he  has  to  tell  them." 

Thormod  sat  up  on  his  bed.  "  Oh,  you  must 
have  heard  something  which  will  help  me.  Is  no- 
body named  in  the  tale  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Egil,  "  there  was  a  name  I  heard. 
I  heard  the  name  of  Thorgar,  a  fine  champion; 
and  then  Thorgrim  named  himself — and  great  do- 
ings that  he  did  with  this  Thorgar." 

"Oh,  that  is  his  tale?"  said  Thormod.  "Has 
he  finished  it  yet  ?  " 

"  No,  no.  You  should  go  and  hear  him  finish 
it." 

"  I  think  I  will,"  Thormod  said,  getting  on  to  the 
floor.  He  put  his  cloak  over  his  head  and  shoul- 
ders, with  the  black  side  out,  took  his  axe,  and 
went  out.  Egil  went  with  him,  and  they  walked 
together  round  the  hill  and  into  the  town  of  booths 
beyond  it.  The  streets  were  all  empty,  but  they 
could  see  the  crowd  about  Thorgrim's  booth.  Thor- 
mod turned  off  sharply  and  went  behind  the  row 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  107 

of  huts  and  round  that  of  Thorgrim  Troll.  He 
stood  under  the  eaves,  but  out  of  sight  of  the  lis- 
teners, and  pulled  back  Egil,  who,  in  pure  igno- 
rance, was  for  peering  round  the  corner. 

The  evening,  which  had  been  sunny,  suddenly 
clouded  over.  Thormod  looked  up  at  the  sky. 
Then  he  looked  at  Egil.  Then  at  the  sky  again. 
"Master,  what  ails  you?"  Egil  said. 

Thormod  replied,  "  Egil,  there  will  be  a  storm 
— much  thunder.  Now  the  thunder-blast  foretells 
dire  events.  Heaven  is  angry,  the  sky  cracks  and 
the  wrath  peals  through  the  crack.  When  that 
comes,  beware  what  you  do.  Take  to  your  heels, 
man,  and  away.  Slip  along,  get  home  to  bed,  and 
lie  there  for  safety.    Do  you  heed  me  ?  " 

Egil's  eyeballs  showed  white  rims.  "  Yes,  mas- 
ter." At  that  moment  the  rain  began,  and  the  wind 
which  precedes  the  thunder  came  on  swift  and  cold. 
Egil's  teeth  began  to  chatter,  but  Thormod  caught 
his  arm.  "  Not  yet,  not  yet."  The  men  before 
Thorgrim's  booth  were  all  afoot  now,  and  a  stam- 
pede for  home  began.  Thormod  looked  round  at 
them.    Men  were  crowding  into  Thorgrim's  booth, 


108  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

the  others  were  scuttling  home,  plashing  through 
the  wet.  But  the  great  man  sat  still  on  his  stool, 
sheltered  under  the  eaves.  Thormod  turned  to  Egil. 
"  Stay  you  where  you  are  till  you  hear  the  crash. 
Then  run  for  home."  So  said,  he  slipped  round 
to  the  front  of  the  booth  and  walked  lightly  up  to 
Thorgrim  Troll.  The  hood  of  his  cloak  shadowed 
his  face. 

Thorgrim  took  no  notice  of  him,  but  Thormod 
stood  beside  him  and  waited. 

"  Did  you  finish  your  tale  ?  " 

"  Ay,"  said  Thorgrim,  "  all  that  mattered  of  it." 

"  What  tale  did  you  tell  them?  " 

Thorgrim  chuckled.  "  I  cannot  tell  it  to  you 
again."  Then  he  looked  at  him.  "  And  who  might 
you  be?" 

"  Wigfus,  they  call  me." 

"  And  whose  son  are  you,  Wigfus  ?  " 

"  The  son  of  Tortriggr." 

"I  don't  like  your  name,"  said  Thorgrim,  "or 
your  father's  name."  He  made  as  if  he  would 
rise  at  his  leisure.  Thormod  swung  up  his  knife- 
bladed  axe  and  brought  it  down  with  a  crash  at 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  109 

the  back  of  his  neck.  Thorgrim's  body  fell  in  a 
heap,  his  head  pitched  into  the  street. 

Thormod  put  his  axe  into  his  belt  under  his 
cloak  and  went  to  pick  up  the  head.  "  Ho !  Ho ! 
come  out !"  he  called.  "  Somebody  has  slain  your 
chief !  "  Men  came  streaming  out  of  the  booth 
and  saw  Thormod  holding  the  head.  They  were 
dazed;  all  spoke  at  once,  came  crowding  round, 
gaping,  wondering.  "How?"  "Who  did  it?" 
"Where's  the  man?" 

Thormod  quietly  said,  "  I  saw  him  coming,  but 
didn't  know  what  he  was  after.  In  a  moment  it 
was  done,  and  he  was  off.  He  went  that  way. 
Let  some  one  hold  the  head,  and  I  will  show  you 
where  he  went." 

They  were  so  astounded  that  he  was  obeyed.  A 
tall  man  took  the  head  from  him,  others  went 
straying  about;  but  most  of  them  talked  about  it. 
Presently  there  was  an  outcry  from  a  distance  and 
Thormod  heard,  "After  him!  Head  him  off!" 
and  many  men  running.  He  guessed  that  they 
were  after  Egil,  as  they  were.  He  himself  went 
down  to  the  shore,  and,  behind  a  rock,  took  off  his 


no  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

fur  cloak,  turned  it  inside  out,  and  showed  all 
white. 

They  caught  Egil  and  examined  him.  But  he  was 
in  such  a  fright  that,  as  the  tale  says,  the  fear  ran 
off  him  as  heat  off  iron.  "  That's  not  a  man  at 
all,"  they  said.  "  It  would  need  a  man  to  kill  Thor- 
grim." 

Men  met  Thormod  also  down  by  the  shore,  and 
he  gave  his  name  as  Tortriggr  (Untrusty  or  Ill- 
trusty).  He  said  that  he  was  looking  for  Thor- 
grim's  slayer,  and  was  let  alone. 


XIV 

Scuf  and  Bearne  were  not  long  in  hearing  of 
the  hue-and-cry  after  Thorgrim's  slayer,  and  not 
long  joining  it  either,  for  they  valued  their  skins 
as  much  as  anybody.  But  after  a  while,  when  the 
excitement  had  died  down,  they  went  home,  and 
there  found  Egil  twittering  in  a  corner.  "  What 
ails  thee,  man?  Has  somebody  been  after  thy  life 
also?" 

"A  frightful  storm,"  said  Egil,  "the  worst  in 
all  my  days.  I  heard  the  crash,  and  by  the  gods 
I  ran — and  men  after  me.  They  hailed  me  slayer 
of  a  man,  but  let  me  alone  when  they  saw  who 
I  was." 

"  It  was  seeing  what  you  were,  not  who,"  said 
Scuf.    "  Where  is  your  master?  " 

"  Dead  of  the  thunder-clap,  you  may  be  sure." 

"  What  is  all  this  of  thunder,  you  fool  ?  There 
has  been  no  thunder  to-day." 

"  When  I  tell  you  that  I  heard  it,  as  the  master 
told  me!    Did  I  not  run?" 

in 


H2  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

They  had  it  out  of  him  by  and  by,  and  then 
began  to  understand  the  state  of  Thormod's  busi- 
ness. They  agreed  that  they  had  best  go  down  the 
firth  in  a  boat  and  waft  him  across  the  water. 
And  that  was  what  they  did  presently,  and  took 
some  provision  with  them. 

Some  way  down,  beyond  the  Ness,  they  saw 
Thormod  in  his  white  cloak  sitting  on  the  rocks. 
They  ran  the  boat  inshore,  and  called  out  to  him 
to  get  in,  and  to  be  quick  about  it.  Thormod  rose 
and  stretched  himself  at  ease,  then  hopped  from 
rock  to  rock  till  he  came  to  them.  Then  he  jumped 
down  into  the  boat. 

"Well?"  said  Bearne. 

"Well?" 

"  Is  it  well,  man,  or  not?  " 

"  It  is  very  well  with  me  at  least,"  said  Thormod. 

Scuf  said,  "You  are  the  man,  I  suppose?" 

"  I  am  the  man  they  want  up  there,  if  you  mean 
that." 

"  That  is  what  I  mean.  Well,  well,  that  is  some- 
thing to  have  done — so  great  a  man!  The  second 
man  in  Greenland — well,  well !  " 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  113 

"  He  is  not  so  great  as  he  was,"  said  Thormod, 
"  by  a  head." 

"  Did  you  smite  it  off  him  ?  "  Scuf  asked. 

"  Yes,  I  did,"  said  Thormod,  "  and  picked  it  up 
for  him  afterwards." 

"You  had  better  have  left  it  lying.  That  was 
near  your  last  hour  when  they  found  you  with  the 
head  on  your  knees." 

That  was  Scuf :  Bearne  chimed  in,  "  And 
another  choice  moment  was  when  they  found 
you  at  the  Ness.  If  they  had  guessed  at  it 
then!" 

"  J  am  not  a  hard  riddle  to  guess,"  said  Thormod ; 
"  a  stammering,  black-avised,  curly-polled  fellow  as 
I  am." 

"  How  they  came  to  miss  you  beats  me,"  said 
Scuf. 

"  It  may  prove  an  unlucky  miss  for  some  of 
Thorgrim's  kinsfolk,"  Thormod  said. 

"  Hoho !  You  are  never  going  to  have  at  the 
rest  of  them !  " 

"  But  I  am,"  said  Thormod.  "  For  what  else 
did  I  come  to  Greenland  ?  " 


114  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

Both  his  friends  did  their  hardest  to  dissuade 
him.  He  was  a  notable  man,  they  said;  he  was 
too  notable.  How  did  he  think  he  would  get  away 
from  Greenland  ?  It  was  not  so  easy.  Thorgrim's 
nephews  would  hunt  the  firth  from  end  to  end 
after  him;  he  would  be  made  an  outlaw  at  to- 
morrow's Moot — and  so  on.  But  Thormod  was 
very  calm  about  it  all.  "  One  can  die  but  once," 
he  told  them,  "  and  nobody  knows  who  the  next 
dead  man  is  to  be,  until  he  is  dead." 

By  this  time  they  were  over  the  firth  and  inside 
the  chain  of  islands  which  are  found  on  that  side. 
They  left  the  boat  and  climbed  the  cliffs  to  a  cave 
which  Scuf  knew  of.  It  was  a  roomy  and  dry 
cave,  midway  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  reached 
by  a  grass  ledge.  You  could  climb  down  to  the 
water,  or  up  to  the  mainland,  but  not  easily.  The 
safest  way  was  that  by  which  they  had  come. 
"  Now,"  they  told  Thormod,  "  do  you  stay  here, 
and  be  careful  how  you  show  yourself.  When  the 
Moot  is  over  we  will  come  for  you.  You  will  be 
an  outlaw  by  that  time  and  anybody's  capture — but 
we  will  not  forsake  you." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  115 

"  Good,"  said  Thormod.  "  Now  let  me  eat  and 
drink  something — especially  drink  something." 

They  left  him,  and  rowed  back  to  the  booths 
without  adventure;  but  next  day  they  were  sent 
for  to  appear  a*t  the  Moot,  where  Thorgrim's 
nephews  moved  the  outlawry  of  Thormod.  The 
other  two,  luckily  for  themselves,  were  able  to 
prove  where  they  had  been  at  the  time  of  the 
slaughter.  As  for  their  acquaintance  wtih  Thor- 
mod, Bearne  said  that  he  had  never  set  eyes  on 
him  until  he  came  to  Ericsfirth  in  the  ship  from 
Norway,  and  Scuf  that  he  was  a  stranger  to  him 
whom  he  had  met  on  the  quay  before  he  sailed. 

Then  Thormod  was  pronounced  outlaw,  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  Moot  broke  up.  Scuf  and 
Bearne  did  not  at  once  go  home;  but  making  out 
that  they  were  going  to  buy  cattle,  went  to  stay 
with  the  widow  Sigrid  at  Cliff.  They  knew  that 
Sigurd,  her  son,  was  no  friend  to  Thorgrim  Troll 
and  his  kin.  But  they  saw  Thormod  before  they 
went  there,  took  him  more  provender,  and  bid 
him  keep  close.  Thormod  grinned  and  said  that 
he  would  look  after  himself. 


XV 


It  was  certainly  very  dull  in  the  cave,  and 
Thormod  had  never  been  able  to  bear  dullness  with 
fortitude.  For  a  day  or  two  of  fine  weather  he 
contented  himself  with  the  grass  ledge,  upon  which 
it  was  easy  to  lie  at  length,  and  possible  to  sit. 
Then,  as  he  lay  on  his  back  looking  up  the  cliff's 
face,  he  thought  it  would  be  interesting  and  per- 
haps useful  to  attempt  the  climb.  No  sooner 
thought  than  attempted.  He  succeeded  before  long 
in  finding  a  straight  way  up.  Next  he  tried  for  a 
passage  down  to  the  shore,  and  in  that  too  he  was 
lucky.  After  that  he  could  not  be  contented  to  sit 
about.  He  took  short  walks  in  the  country  and 
amused  himself  very  well  without  meeting  any- 
body. And  then,  one  fine  evening,  he  saw  a  man 
coming  along  the  top  of  the  cliff — a  limping  old 
scarecrow  of  a  man  in  a  long  cloak  which  showed 
the  light  through  in  more  than  one  place.     There 

116 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  117 

was  not  much  to  be  afraid  of  there,  at  any  rate; 
so  Thormod  went  to  meet  him. 

He  was  as  dirty  as  he  looked,  and,  as  Thormod 
judged,  older  than  he  looked.  His  cloak,  which 
barely  held  together,  was  verminous,  and  he  had 
a  bag  over  his  shoulder  in  which  he  carried,  no 
doubt,  whatever  he  could  pick  up.  He  stood  blink- 
ing his  blear  eyes  and  waited  for  Thormod  to  speak 
to  him.  He  was  too  old  to  be  frightened  of  any- 
body. 

"  A  good  evening  to  you,"  Thormod  said.  "  You 
travel  light,  I  see." 

"  Ay,"  said  the  old  man,  J*  with  all  my  wealth 
on  my  back." 

"  And  other  things  besides  not  so  profitable," 
Thormod  told  him.  Then  he  asked  him,  "  And  who 
may  you  be  ?  " 

"  Odde,  sir,  Odde  is  my  name — but  mostly  they 
call  me  Lousy  Odde,  and  very  rightly  so.  I  am 
a  beggar  by  trade,  and  by  inclination  also,  for  I 
never  did  like  work,  and  long  ago  determined  that 
I  would  have  little  to  do  with  it.  Now  I  go  up 
the  firth  and  down  the  firth,  and  what  I  find  is 


n8  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

mine,  and  what  I  can  get  out  of  the  folk  is  mine 
too." 

"  And  do  you  do  well  at  your  trade  ?  " 

"  Better  than  you  might  think  to  look  at  me. 
I  am  an  idle  old  dog,  and  that's  the  truth.  They 
know  that.  But  they  know  also  that  I  am  not  a 
fool,  and  not  much  of  a  liar,  and  on  that  knowl- 
edge proceed  the  alms  they  bestow.  Now,  sir,  you 
are  a  stranger  to  me,  yet  I  thought  I  knew  this 
country  well.    And  what  may  your  name  be?  " 

"  Oh,  I  am  called  Torrad." 

"  And  what  trade  do  you  follow  ?  " 

"  None  at  all.  I  am  a  vagabond,  very  much  of 
your  stamp.  But  I  am  ready  to  do  some  trading 
with  you  if  you  will." 

Odde  looked  doubtful.  "  My  sack  is  light,"  he 
said.     "  I  have  little  worth  your  buying." 

Thormod  said,  "  Will  you  sell  me  the  coat  on 
your  back?" 

"  Now  you  are  making  game  of  me,"  said  old 
Odde. 

"  Not  in  the  least,"  said  Thormod.  "  I  will  make 
an  exchange  with  you.     You  shall  have  mine  for 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  119 

it,  and  do  me  an  errand  into  the  bargain.  Get  over 
the  firth  and  go  to  Cliff,  where  friends  of  mine, 
Scuf  and  Bearne,  are  living.  Tell  them  that  you 
met  one  Torrad  walking  out  here  and  changed 
coats  with  him.  No  more  than  that,  and  I  shall 
be  satisfied.  Now,  will  you  do  that  for  me,  and 
earn  my  cloak  ?  " 

Odde  looked  at  the  speaker,  looked  at  the 
weather,  looked  at  the  water.  He  thought  it  would 
be  difficult  to  get  a  passage — but  he  wanted  Thor- 
mod's  cloak.  Well,  he  said,  he  believed  it  might 
be  done.  Finally,  he  promised,  and  the  exchange 
was  made.  Thormod  saw  him  on  the  road  before 
he  went  back  to  his  cave. 

The  next  day,  his  axe  in  his  belt,  the  lousy  cloak 
over  him,  he  walked  briskly  up  the  firth  till  he 
came  opposite  the  settlement  on  the  other  side. 
Then  he  turned  away  from  the  water  and  went 
up  into  the  country  for  a  spell,  and  when  he  saw 
what  he  wanted — which  was  a  flock  of  sheep — he 
made  straight  for  it  over  broken  ground  with  rocks 
and   bogs   interspersed.      Presently   in   some   salt 


120  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

marshes  beyond  him  he  saw  a  man  with  the  sheep 
whom  he  guessed  to  be — as  indeed  he  was — a 
shepherd  of  Hamund  of  Longness  and  of  Thordis 
his  wife,  the  sister  of  Thorgrim  Troll.  He  turned 
at  once  towards  the  man;  but  now  he  walked  with 
a  limp,  and  pulled  the  hood  down  over  his  face. 

It  was  getting  dusk,  and  Thormod  held  the  hood 
close  about  his  mouth  to  cover  his  lack  of  beard. 
He  asked  the  shepherd  if  the  young  masters  were 
at  home  or  not.  The  shepherd  said  that  Bodwar 
was  away,  but  that  the  others  were  out  fishing  and 
should  be  home  before  dark.  "  Right,"  said  Thor- 
mod, and  limped  away.  He  went  down  to  the  water, 
found  the  boat-house,  and  sat  down  there  out  of 
sight. 

He  heard  the  oars  knocking  in  the  rowlocks  from 
a  long  way  off,  but  had  to  wait  till  they  were  close 
inshore  before  he  made  out  the  three  sons  of  Thor- 
dis. But  he  was  able  to  satisfy  himself  of  them 
before  they  came  in.  Falgar  sat  aft,  Thord  was 
amidships,  and  Thorkel  was  kneeling  in  the  bows 
ready  to  make  fast  when  they  ran  her  up  the  shore. 
Just  as  they  were  about  to  touch  the  gravel  Thor- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  121 

mod  came  limping  out  of  the  shadow  and  stood 
waiting  for  the  boat.  Thorkel  saw  him,  thought 
it  was  old  Odde,  and  thought  no  more  of  him. 

But  Thormod  had  his  axe  behind  his  back,  and 
when  the  boat  ran  in  and  Thorkel  was  stooping 
forward  with  the  chain  in  his  hand,  he  gave  him  a 
blow  on  the  top  of  the  head  which  killed  him  in- 
stantly. Then  Thormod  pulled  off  the  lousy  cloak 
and  ran  fleetly  along  the  shore;  the  two  young 
men  leapt  into  the  water,  splashed  ashore,  and  after 
him.  He  ran  well,  but  they  ran  faster,  for  they 
were  hard  upon  his  heels  on  the  cliff,  and  when 
he  came  to  his  cave,  and  jumped  for  the  grass 
ledge,  almost  in  the  same  moment  Thord  leapt 
after  him — but  in  leaping  came  down  on  all-fours. 
That  was  Thormod's  opportunity.  He  drove  the 
axe  with  all  his  force  into  the  middle  of  his  back. 

He  drove  too  hard.  Thord  fell  prone,  but  the 
axe  was  immovable,  and  while  he  was  tussling  with 
it  Falgar  jumped  down  to  the  ledge  and  hewed  at 
him  with  a  sword.  Thormod  felt  that  he  was 
badly  hurt  between  the  shoulders,  and  turned  to 
face  his  new  enemy.     He  let  go  of  his  axe,  and 


122  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

springing  forward  caught  Falgar  under  the  arm- 
pits and  held  him  fast.  Falgar  dropped  his  sword 
over  the  cliff,  which  was  Thormod's  luck;  but  he 
was  the  stronger  man,  and  an  un wounded  man, 
and  it  would  have  gone  hard  with  the  poet  if,  as 
chance  would  have  it,  they  had  not  both  gone 
over  the  ledge  and  tumbled  into  the  firth,  strug- 
gling together.  Another  lucky  thing.  If  the  tide 
had  not  been  high  at  the  time  Thormod  at  least 
had  been  a  dead  man. 

The  water  revived  him  for  the  moment,  and  he 
swam  level  with  Falgar,  and  waited  his  chance. 
They  snatched  at  each  other  more  than  once;  but 
Thormod  could  swim  like  an  otter  and  ducked 
more  often  than  he  was  ducked.  Diving  once,  he 
caught  Falgar  by  the  breeches,  felt  something  give 
way,  and  guessed  that  he  had  broken  the  strap  which 
held  them.  He  dived  again,  caught  hold  again  and 
pulled  with  all  his  might.  Falgar's  breeches  slipped 
away  as  he  struggled  in  Thormod's  hold.  They 
came  down  below  his  knees,  held  his  legs  together, 
and  he  was  done  for.  Thormod,  with  what  little 
strength  he  had  left,  swam  to  a  ledge  of  rock  and 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  123 

pulled  himself  up.  Then  he  fainted,  and  did  not 
see  the  drowning  of  Falgar,  which  after  various 
sousings  and  bobbings-up  was  the  end  of  him.  But 
as  for  Thormod,  there  he  lay  all  night. 


XVI 

The  lousy  old  man  had  been  as  good  as  his 
word.  He  presented  himself  before  Scuf  and 
Bearne  before  nightfall,  at  about  the  time  when 
Thormod  was  sitting  in  the  shadow  of  the  boat- 
house.  He  would  have  been  stronger  with  his 
errand  if  he  had  been  able  to  get  a  passage  over 
the  firth — but  it  was  quite  as  well  for  Thormod, 
as  things  turned  out,  that  he  had  been  delayed  for 
twenty- four  hours.  Directly  Scuf  heard  the  mes- 
sage, he  recognised  the  blue  mantle  the  man  was 
wearing,  and  knew  that  he  had  spoken  the  truth. 
He  turned  indoors  and  told  Bearne  about  it.  Bearne 
said,  "  That  is  an  old  shift.  Ogmund  Dint  played 
it  on  Gunnar  Helming  not  many  years  ago,  and  a 
fine  man  lost  his  life  through  it.  Now  we  had  best 
go  out  and  look  for  our  friend.  Late  as  it  is,  I  am 
minded  to  go  at  once." 

124 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  125 

Scuf  thought  it  wiser  to  wait  till  the  hour  be- 
fore sunrise.  "  If,  as  I  think,  he  has  done  some 
notable  deed,  there  will  be  some  search-work  going 
on  to-night  in  which  you  and  I  had  better  not  be 
seen." 

Bearne  was  unwilling  to  wait,  but  Scuf  stuck 
to  it.  "  What  sort  of  fight  can  we  make  against 
the  sons  of  Hamund?  " 

That  was  unanswerable — so  they  went  to  bed  and 
rose  before  dawn. 

The  firth  was  quiet  enough  when  they  put  off. 
They  rowed  down  the  further  shore,  with  muffled 
oars,  and  kept  a  sharp  look-out  over  the  water  as 
well  as  the  land.  After  half  an  hour's  rowing 
Bearne  suddenly  stopped. 

"  Something  lies  out  on  the  seaweed  yonder.  It 
may  be  a  man,  and  it  may  be  a  seal." 

Scuf  looked  round.  "  It's  a  man,"  he  said.  "  Pull 
away."  They  knew  it  was  Thormod  before  they 
landed. 

He  was  alive,  and  looked  at  them  with  one  eye, 
smiling,  but  not  moving  his  head. 

"  How  is  it  with  you,  man  ?  " 


126  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  I  can't  move,"  said  Thormod.  He  was  shiver- 
ing and  deadly  pale. 

"  You  have  been  struck?  " 

"Yes,  truly  I  have;  but  I  have  been  striking 
too.     I  gave  more  than  I  got." 

"Whom  did  you  engage?" 

"  The  nephews — Falgar,  Thord  and  Thorkel." 

"  And  which  of  them  did  you  slay?  " 

"  I  slew  all  three." 

"What,  in  one  night?" 

"  In  one  night." 

Scuf  chuckled. 

"  That  was  a  bad  miss  they  made  when  you 
slipped  away  from  the  Moot,  I'm  thinking.  Three 
champions  in  one  night.    Well,  well." 

"  Good  for  a  poet  ?  "  says  Thormod,  shivering 
away. 

"  We  must  get  him  out  of  this,"  said 
Bearne.  "  Thormod,  can  you  walk  if  we  hold 
you?" 

"  I  can't  move,  I  tell  you.  I  am  stiff  from  top 
to  toe." 

"  Fetch  the  sail,"  said  Scuf.    "  We'll  carry  him." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  127 

"Yes,  and  bring  me  a  dram  with  it,"  Thormod 
called  after  him. 

Bearne  came  back  with  his  cordial.  Thormod's 
teeth  were  clenched,  and  had  to  be  forced  open 
with  a  knife-blade.  But  he  drank  the  fiery  stuff 
until  his  eyes  watered.  Then  they  turned  him  over 
on  to  the  sail  and  carried  him  into  the  boat.  The 
movement  started  his  wound  again,  which  must  be 
bandaged.  Thormod  bore  everything  with  cheer- 
fulness, and  went  on  with  his  stammered  jokes  all 
the  time. 

"  Now,"  said  Bearne,  "  we  must  look  lively,  for 
we  have  a  long  way  to  go." 

"Where  are  we  going?"  Thormod  wanted  to 
know. 

"  We  are  going  out  of  this  firth  altogether,  and 
as  far  up  the  other  as  we  can  get,"  Scuf  said.  "  If 
we  are  off  soon  the  tides  will  serve  us  to  rights." 

"  Don't  forget  to  bring  me  my  axe,"  said  Thor- 
mod. "You  will  find  it  up  there  on  the  ledge, 
sticking  in  a  man's  back." 

Bearne  climbed  the  cliff  to  the  ledge,  and  dis- 
covered the  dead  Thord  with  the  axe  lodged  in  his 


128  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

spine.  He  came  back  with  Thormod's  clothes  in  a 
bundle,  and  the  axe  as  well.  "  I  made  you  a  handy 
weapon  here,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,  you  did,"  said  Thormod,  "  but  the  pattern 
was  mine." 

He  was  easier  now.  The  drink  had  warmed  him, 
and  the  flow  of  blood  eased  his  stiffness.  Presently 
he  was  able  to  eat  something,  and  as  he  munched 
he  talked  to  the  two  men  rowing.  He  related  the 
whole  affair  to  them.  The  drowning  of  Falgar 
filled  them  with  admiration.  "  You  are  a  swimmer, 
it  is  very  plain.  Whatever  end  you  make  I  don't 
suppose  it  will  be  in  the  water." 

"  N-n-no,"  said  Thormod,  "  I  shall  d-d-ie  in 
b-b-attle." 

"  And  where  will  your  battle  be?  " 

"  Oh,  not  here.     In  Norway — with  King  Olaf." 

"  You  know  something,  then  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  I  know  a  few  things." 

"You  are  a  wonder  of  the  world,"  Scuf  said; 
and  Thormod  replied,  "  All  p-p-oets  are." 

"Why  so?"  Scuf  asked;  and  was  told,  "Be- 
cause they  think  of  only  one  thing  at  a  time." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  129 

The  tides  served  them  well,  as  Scuf  had  hoped 
they  would.  The  last  of  the  ebb  took  them  out  of 
Einarsfirth,  and  the  flood  took  them  up  Ericsfirth 
to  the  head  of  it.  There  they  stayed.  Bearne  sat 
in  the  boat  with  Thormod,  while  Scuf  made  his  way 
up  the  mountain  to  a  little  house  close  under  the 
glacier  where  a  queer  old  couple  lived — no  one  knew 
how.  Gamle  was  the  man — a  strange  man,  dark 
and  twinkling,  uncertain  in  his  temper,  but  known 
to  be  a  great  hunter ;  Grima  was  his  wife,  very  wise, 
very  cunning,  an  old  heathen,  and  something  of 
an  old  witch.  They  had  never  been  Christian- 
ised, they  saw  nobody,  and  did  not  want  to  see 
anybody.  When  Scuf  went  into  the  house  he 
saw  them  sitting  side  by  side  over  the  fire, 
blinking  at  him  like  two  owls  vexed  by  the 
light. 

But  Scuf  knew  them  well,  and  they  him.  They 
made  him  welcome  after  their  fashion,  gave  him  a 
horn  of  the  right  stuff,  and  a  place  by  the  fire. 
Presently,  when  he  had  drunk  somewhat,  he  opened 
what  he  wanted  of  them — hospitality  and  healing 
for  King  Olaf ,  who  had  been  badly  wounded.    They 


i3o  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

said  nothing  to  that,  but  went  on  blinking  at  the 

fire. 

Presently  the  woman,  Grima,  said,  "Who 
wounded  him  ?  "  And  then  the  whole  story  had 
to  come  out,  and  Scuf  reckoned  he  had  better  make 
a  clean  breast  of  it.  They  blinked  more  than  ever 
after  that,  and  Grima  said,  "  Your  man  is  not 
everybody's  man." 

"  No,  he  is  not,"  Scuf  said,  "  but  I  know  nobody 
who  can  serve  him  except  yourself.  And  if  any 
action  is  brought  against  you  for  what  you  do, 
you  may  reckon  upon  me  to  make  good  all  that 
you  suffer.  As  for  the  charges  you  are  at  for 
Thormod,  there  is  plenty  to  meet  that  with.  Now, 
I  wish  you  would  do  us  this  kindness." 

The  two  of  them  looked  into  the  fire  for  a  long 
time.  Presently  Gamle  said,  "  Well !  "  and  Grima 
said,  "  Ay,  ay  " — and  that  was  all  that  they  did 
say;  but  Scuf,  who  knew  them,  understood  it,  and 
went  down  to  the  shore. 

Presently  they  brought  Thormod  in  between 
them,  and  laid  him  on  a  bed.  Grima,  who  treated 
him  as  if  he  had  been  a  child,  turned  him  over,  and 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  131 

peered  into  the  wound.  She  muttered  fast  to  her- 
self, grumbling  and  scolding  at  the  bad  appearance 
of  it,  the  dirt  that  had  got  in  and  the  like.  When 
once  she  got  to  work,  however,  she  showed  her 
quality;  for  she  cleansed  and  bound  up  the  gash, 
and  made  Thormod  easier  than  he  had  been  since 
he  got  it.  Scuf  could  see  very  well  that  he  and 
his  hosts  were  going  to  get  on  together,  and  soon 
afterwards  went  off  to  Stockness,  where  they  lived. 


XVII 

The  cold  had  settled  in  Thormod's  wound,  and 
he  was  ill  for  many  months — they  say  twelve.  So 
slowly  did  he  get  on,  that  in  the  spring  following 
the  deed  which  had  earned  it  him  he  could  walk 
no  further  than  from  one  room  to  another,  that 
is,  between  bower  and  hall.  He  used  to  make  this 
excursion  many  times  in  the  course  of  the  day,  but 
was  always  exhausted  by  it. 

Meantime,  and  for  long,  it  was  supposed  down 
in  the  firths  that  he  had  been  drowned  with  Falgar, 
for  that  young  man's  body  had  been  washed  ashore, 
and  showed  no  wounds  upon  it.  Thord  had  also 
been  found,  and  the  earth-slide  which  the  other 
two  had  made  when  they  fell  off  the  ledge.  Thor- 
dis,  the  young  men's  mother,  never  believed  it,  but 
everybody  else  did,  including  Bodwar,  the  only  son 
left  to  her.    But  in  the  following  spring  something 

132 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  133 

came  to  Thordis,  a  dream  or  a  vision,  which  changed 
the  whole  position. 

She  slept  late  one  morning,  and  whined  and 
talked  in  her  sleep.  Bodwar  would  not  have  her 
disturbed,  for  like  every  one  else  of  his  generation 
he  held  strongly  by  dreams.  No  doubt  but  she  had 
the  second  sight,  for  presently  she  awoke  with  a 
start  and  sat  up,  looking  wild,  in  her  bed.  "  What 
have  you  been  dreaming  of,  mother?"  Bodwar 
asked  her,  and  "What  have  you  seen?" 

"  Ah,"  she  said,  "  I  have  been  over  the  fells  on 
my  broomstick  this  night,  and  now  I  know  a  thing 
or  two  which  I  did  not  know  when  I  went  to  bed." 

"What  things  are  they?" 

"  I  know,"  she  said,  "  that  Thormod,  who  slew 
your  brothers,  is  alive — and  I  know  where  to  have 
him,  too." 

"Where,  then?" 

"  He  is  with  old  Gamle  and  his  witch-wife  under 
the  glacier  at  Ericsfirth  Head." 

Bodwar  was  much  impressed.  "Are  you  sure 
of  that?" 

"How  should  I  not  be  sure?    Didn't  I  see  him 


134  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

limping  there  ?    Now,  get  your  boat  down,  my  son, 

and  choose  your  rowers,  and  we  will  go  after  him." 

"  He  is  a  dead  man  if  so  be  that  we  find  him  up 
there,"  Bodwar  said. 

He  made  ready,  and  manned  a  boat,  taking  fifteen 
men  besides  himself,  well-armed.  They  rode  down 
the  firth  and  out  to  sea,  ran  up  Ericsfirth,  and 
stayed  at  Brent-lithe,  where  Thorkel  lived,  who  had 
been  the  first  man  to  harbour  Thormod  when  he 
came  out  to  Greenland.  As  it  was  now  late,  they 
stayed  there  for  the  night,  meaning  to  be  off  the 
first  thing  in  the  morning.  But  this  could  not  be 
managed,  for  Thordis  thought  it  was  very  neces- 
sary to  get  Thorkel's  countenance,  and  when  he 
had  agreed  to  go  with  them  it  did  not  suit  him  to 
take  less  men  with  him  than  she  and  Bodwar  had. 
In  fact,  he  took  more.  Gamle  was  a  tenant  of  his, 
and  entitled  to  fair  play,  especially  from  men  out 
of  the  other  firth. 

Now  it  was  Grima's  turn  for  visions,  and  we 
are  told  that  they  did  not  fail  her.  She  saw  Thor- 
dis's  boat  rowing  up  the  firth,  knew  how  many  men 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  135 

were  in  it,  and  what  their  errand  was.  She  took 
the  direction  of  affairs  at  once,  and  Thormod  was 
amused  to  see  how  completely  Gamle  was  at  her 
orders.  He  was  to  stay  home,  but  not  show  himself. 
And  he  was  to  put  a  kettle  on  the  fire  in  the  bower 
and  boil  seal  in  it.  Gamle  went  off  obediently  to 
do  as  he  was  told. 

"  And  what  am  I  to  do,  mother  ? "  Thormod 
wanted  to  know. 

She  drew  forward  the  great  chair  which  was 
in  the  corner  by  the  hearth.  It  was  a  huge,  old- 
fashioned  chair,  deep  enough  to  hold  two  people. 
It  had  a  canopy;  and  on  the  pillar  at  the  back  was 
carved  a  huge  image  of  Thor  who  spread  out  his 
arms  and  made  the  canopy.  "  Sit  you  there,"  said 
Grima,  "  in  the  midst  of  the  reek,  and  never  move 
out  of  it  whosoever  comes  in  or  goes  out.  If  you 
are  to  die  you  will  die,  and  it  makes  no  matter 
to  you  whether  you  die  in  a  chair  or  against  the 
wall.  So  sit  you  still  as  a  mouse  until  I  bid  you 
out.  Now  I  shall  go  and  spin  my  yarn  on  the 
threshold,  and  let  them  do  their  worst."  By  this 
time  the  bower  was  thick  with  seal-reek — impos- 


136  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

sible  to  see  your  hand  in  front  of  your  face.  Thor- 
mod  was  so  amused  that  he  roared  with  laughter, 
and  made  Grima  angry.  As  for  Gamle,  the  thicker 
the  smoke  grew  the  more  seal  he  put  into  the  kettle. 

Grima  saw  the  two  boats  before  long,  and  called 
out  to  Thormod  to  stop  fooling.  She  saw  them  land 
their  folk,  saw  the  parley  that  ensued,  then  watched 
Thorkel  come  alone  up  the  path  to  the  house.  She 
went  on  with  her  spinning. 

"  Well,  mother,  and  how's  it  with  you  this  day?  " 

"  Eh,  none  too  bad.  Gamle's  busy  at  home  with 
his  seal-kettle,  and  I  am  here  to  be  out  of  the  reek. 
And  what  brings  you  up  so  far  from  home?  " 

Then  he  told  her  what  he  had  come  about. 
"  Thordis  of  Longness  has  it  in  her  mind  that  you 
are  harbouring  an  outlaw — Thormod  the  poet  from 
Norway.  Now  I  told  her  I  thought  that  not  likely 
— for  that  would  be  a  heavy  charge  for  you." 

"  Too  much  for  me,  master,"  said  Grima. 
"What  would  I  be  doing  with  a  murderous  out- 
law, and  me  lonely  in  my  house  most  days  of  the 
week?" 

"  So  I  told  her,"  said  Thorkel.     "  But  nothing 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  137 

would  suit  her  but  she  must  come  and  ransack. 
And  that  is  our  business  with  you." 

"  Ransack,  with  all  my  heart,  if  you  ransack 
alone.  But  I  will  not  be  over-run  with  a  score  of 
armed  men,  and  I  don't  want  Thordis  of  Einarsfirth 
turning  my  things  over,  either.  You  I  know,  and 
am  always  glad  to  see  her — but  of  Einarsfirth  peo- 
ple, the  more  I  know  the  less  I  like  them." 

"  But,  you  see,  mother,  it  is  Thordis  who  is 
hunting,  and  not  me.  I  have  obtained  it  from  her 
that  I  shall  be  present,  in  order  to  insure  you  against 
malice.     I  hope  then  that  you  will  be  reasonable — 

otherwise "  and  he  indicated  the  men-at-arms 

on  the  shore  with  a  sweep  of  his  hand — "  other- 
wise  " 

Old  Grima  tossed  up  her  head.  "  Oh,  I  know, 
I  know — Well,  so  you  are  with  her " 

"  I  shall  be,"  said  Thorkel,  and  went  down  to 
the  shore,  whence  he  returned  with  Thordis,  a 
quick-eyed,  black-browed  woman. 

They  ransacked  the  byre,  the  storeroom  and  the 
turf-shelter;  they  went  through  the  hall  and  opened 
the  door  into  the  bower.     The  seal-reek  came  out 


138  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

like  a  sea-fog.  Thordis  did  her  best,  but  could 
not  face  that.  "  Somebody  must  be  in  there  mak- 
ing that  foul  reek,"  she  said.  "  Thorkel,  do  you 
go  and  see  who  it  is."  Thorkel  went  in  a  little 
way,  and  was  soon  swallowed  up  in  the  reek.  He 
came  back  presently  and  said  Gamle  was  there,  boil- 
ing seal-blubber. 

"  Did  you  tell  him  to  stop  it?  " 

"  I  did  so — but  he  shook  his  head  at  me,  and 
put  on  more  blubber.  He  is  hard  of  hearing,  is 
Gamle." 

"  Well,"  Thordis  said,  "  we  must  go  on  the  roof, 
and  open  the  vents.  We  can  overlook  the  place  very 
well  from  there." 

With  a  ladder  they  did  so.  The  smoke  lifted 
somewhat  and  Thordis  could  see  into  the  bower. 
She  saw  Gamle  by  the  fire,  stirring  his  kettle;  and 
she  saw  Thor  above  the  chair,  with  his  arms  apart. 
Nothing  else  was  to  be  seen ;  so  then  they  went  down 
the  ladder,  and  renewed  their  search  outside. 

Then  they  came  round  the  house  to  Grima,  who 
was  spinning  yarn  and  muttering  to  herself.  She 
took  no  notice  at  all  of  Thordis,  but  Thordis  was 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  139 

accustomed  to  be  noticed.  "  We  came  up  here  to 
find  heathens,  it  seems.  I  see  you  have  Thor  over 
your  chair,  dame." 

"  Ah,  there  he  is,  the  old  scamp,  sure  enough," 
said  Grima.  "And  let  me  tell  you  there  is  some 
use  in  Blackbeard  to  people  like  me  who  cannot  get 
down  to  hear  the  priest  of  God  in  the  church.  For 
I  look  Thor  in  the  face,  and  say, '  You  are  a  wooden 
god,  Thor,  and  if  I  chose  for  it  I  could  light  the 
fire  with  you.  But  the  God  in  church  was  not  made 
with  hands;  and  when  men  slew  Him,  He  rose  the 
third  day.  Now  you — if  I  put  you  in  the  fire — 
it  is  white  ash  you  would  be  in  the  morning.' " 

Thordis  pressed  her  lips  together.  "  It  sounds 
very  well — but  if  we  were  to  push  you  hard,  maybe 
we  should  learn  more  about  you  and  your  prac- 
tices. I  have  it  in  my  mind  that  you  could  tell 
us  something  of  Thormod  if  my  son  and  I,  and 
the  men  we  have  with  us,  were  to  make  you 
speak." 

"  More  goes  into  the  mind  than  sense,"  said 
Grima,  "  and  maybe  it  is  the  better  for  you  that 
Thormod  is  not  in  my  house,  if  all  I  hear  of  him 


140  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

and  your  sons  is  true.    But  you  are  sore  about  that, 
so  I'll  say  no  more." 

There  was  no  more  to  be  said  or  done  by  the 
ransackers,  who  presently  went  off  to  their  boats, 
and  set  out  for  home.  Then  Thormod  came  out 
of  the  reek  and  sat  in  the  sun  beside  Grima.  She 
scolded  him,  and  he  laughed  at  her;  but  they  had 
grown  very  fond  of  each  other.  By  the  end  of 
the  summer  he  was  well  of  his  wound,  and  anxious 
to  go  down  the  firth  to  Stockness.  But  Grima  would 
not  suffer  that,  and  sent  Gamle  down  instead. 


XVIII 

Scuf  and  Bearne  came  up  to  fetch  Thormod 
away.  He  paid  his  farewells,  giving  handsome 
presents  to  the  good  old  couple.  They  were  as 
sorry  to  lose  him  as  if  he  had  been  their  son;  but 
Thormod  himself  was  anxious  to  be  doing  some- 
thing. They  all  three  went  to  Stockness,  where 
a  shelter  in  the  storehouse  had  been  fitted  up  for 
him.  He  was  there  that  winter — his  third  in  Green- 
land— and  in  the  course  of  it  Scuf  sold  the  Stock- 
ness estate,  and  made  his  plans  for  fitting  out  a  ship. 
They  would  all  leave  the  country  and  settle  in  Nor- 
way. That  was  the  plan,  which  was  only  delayed 
by  Thormod's  next  venture. 

As  soon  as  the  sea  was  open  again  he  told  his 
hosts  that  he  had  affairs  of  his  own  which  he  must 
settle  before  he  left  the  country,  and  if  they  guessed 
what  those  were  he  left  them  guessing,  for  he  would 
tell  them  nothing  definite.    He  put  some  stores  into 

141 


142  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

a  boat,  took  Egil  to  row,  and  set  off.  Thormod 
steered,  and  took  a  course  down  Ericsfirth,  and  out 
to  sea ;  then  up  into  Einarsfirth  once  more. 

They  were  well  up  Einarsfirth  when  Thormod 
grew  fidgety  and  began  to  rock  the  boat.  "  Easy, 
master,  or  you  will  capsize  us,"  Egil  called  out. 
"  Why,  what's  the  matter  with  you  ?  " 

"  I  have  a  fit,"  Thormod  said,  and  went  on  with 
his  rocking.  Egil  gave  over  rowing,  which  was 
not  possible  under  such  conditions,  shipped  his  oars 
and  made  them  fast  under  the  thwarts.  Thormod 
went  on  with  his  fit  until  he  had  filled  the  boat 
with  water.  She  settled  down,  and  the  two  men 
were  swimming.  Thormod,  who  had  his  axe  with 
him,  dived  immediately,  and  swam  under  water 
until  he  was  well  away.  Then  he  came  up,  to  dive 
again  immediately;  and  so  he  went  on  until  he 
reached  the  shore.  As  for  Egil,  who  was  a  good 
swimmer  too,  he  managed  to  get  the  boat  over  on 
to  the  keel,  and  to  row  her  with  the  rudder  until 
he  was  in  water  where  he  could  stand.  After  that 
he  was  not  long  baling  her  out,  nor  in  floating  her 
again  with  himself  aboard.     He  got  out  his  oars 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  143 

and  set  to  rowing  home  as  fast  as  he  could  lay  to 
the  work.  Arrived  at  Stockness,  he  had  his  tale 
already.  Thormod  had  drowned  himself,  and 
there,  so  far  as  Egil  was  concerned,  was  the  end 
of  him.  He  couldn't  tell  them  whereabouts  they 
had  been  when  the  fit  began,  nor  had  he  seen 
Thormod  after  the  boat  filled.  He  was  quite  sure 
his  master  was  drowned.    Scuf  was  not  at  all  sure. 

But  Thormod  had  had  his  plans  cut  out.  It 
suited  him  that  Egil  should  row  him  so  far,  but 
not  that  he  should  come  any  further.  So  he  took 
the  shortest  way  with  him  that  occurred  to  him, 
and  with  great  success.  When  he  came  ashore  he 
took  his  clothes  off,  wrung  them  out,  dried  them 
in  the  sun.  Then,  dressed,  he  set  off  walking,  and 
went  on  all  day  till  he  came  to  Cliff,  where  Sigrid 
lived  with  her  son  Sigurd.  These  were  a  couple 
whom  he  had  known  on  his  last  visit  as  unfriends 
of  the  Thorgrim  clan. 

It  was  dark  when  he  came  to  Cliff  and  knocked 
at  the  door.  A  heavy  young  man  came  out,  opened 
the  door,  said  nothing  except  good  evening,  and 
went  back  into  the  house.    Thormod  followed  him 


144  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

in,  and  sat  down  by  the  fire.     Sigrid  was  there, 

watching  him,  and  said  to  Sigurd,  "And  who  is 

this  young  man?  " 

Thormod  said,  "  Slowman  is  my  name." 

"  That's  a  name  for  many  a  man.    Will  Slowman 

stay  here  the  night  ?  " 

"  He  will  if  he  is  asked,"  said  Thormod. 

They  played  out  this  play  solemnly  through  the 
evening  meal;  but  in  the  morning  Sigrid  came  to 
Slowman's  bedside,  and  said,  "  Now,  Thormod, 
what  is  it  you  purpose  in  these  parts?  " 

He  laughed,  saying,  "  My  name  is  Slowman." 

"  Not  here,"  Sigrid  said.  "  I  knew  you  again 
the  moment  you  came  in  last  night." 

"  Then  let  Slowman  go  his  way,"  Thormod  said. 
"  Now  I  will  tell  you  that  I  am  minded  to  go  up 
to  Longness  where  Thorunn  the  sister  of  Thorgrim 
Troll  lives;  and  there  I  will  meet  if  I  can  with  Leot 
her  son.  They  tell  me  that  he  is  something  of  a 
champion,  but  I  wish  to  teach  him  to  keep  a  still 
tongue  in  his  head.  He  has  been  talking  about  me 
so  I  hear." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  145 

Sigrid  nodded  her  head.  "  If  that  is  what  you 
intend,  I  will  send  my  son  Sigurd  with  you.  Leot 
and  his  mother  have  held  our  faces  to  the  ground 
this  many  a  year." 

"  There's  a  remedy  for  that,"  said  Thormod, 
"  but  it  does  not  always  answer.  Now  if 
we  fail  it  makes  no  matter  to  me.  But  if 
you  fail  you  will  lose  your  holding  in  this 
firth." 

"  Oh,"  said  Sigrid,  "  we  would  risk  more  than 
that  for  a  fair  chance  at  Leot." 

Presently  the  two  young  men  set  off  together, 
and  by  keeping  to  a  river-bed,  and  then  skirting  a 
hill,  contrived  to  come  at  Longness  without  being 
seen  by  anybody.  They  reached  the  house  about 
dinner-time,  and  saw  it  all  lying  quietly  in  the  sun. 
Thormod,  without  hesitation,  went  to  the  front 
door  and  knocked  upon  it.  Sigurd  stood  by 
him. 

A  woman  came  to  the  door  and  asked  what  they 
wanted.  Sigurd  said,  "  The  master.  Is  he  at 
home?" 

"  Yes,  surely.    He  is  in  the  hall." 


146  the  light  heart 

"  Ask  him  to  come  out  and  speak  with  us." 

She  went  back  to  Leot,  who  was  eating  his  din- 
ner.    "Who  is  it?" 

"  Sigurd  of  Cliff  is  there,  and  a  man  with  him. 
They  ask  you  to  go  out  and  speak  with  them." 

"Who  is  the  other?" 

"  I  never  saw  him  before." 

"What  does  he  look  like?" 

"A  young  man  with  light  eyes.  His  hair  is 
black  and  curly.    A  smiling  man." 

"  Oh,  he  smiles,  does  he  ?  That  will  be  Thormod. 
Good.  I  come."  He  got  up,  took  a  spear  from  the 
wall  and  went  to  the  door.  He  opened  it  suddenly 
and  drove  the  spear  at  Thormod,  who  was  nearest 
to  him. 

Thormod  slashed  at  it  with  his  axe,  and  turned 
it  downwards;  but  it  caught  him  in  the  calf  of  the 
leg,  and  tore  a  bad  wound.  But  as  Leot  stooped 
to  follow  his  spear-thrust  Sigurd  smote  him  in  the 
shoulder  with  a  sword,  and  shore  the  flesh  away 
from  the  bone.  Leot  turned  and  made  for  the  hall ; 
Sigurd  slashed  at  him  as  he  went  and  sliced  him 
from  the  thigh  down  to  the  calf.     He  fell,  but  he 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  147 

was  indoors,  and  the  woman  ran  before  him  and 
slammed  to  the  door. 

"  That  will  keep  him  quiet  for  a  time,"  said 
Thormod.  "  You  and  I  had  best  be  trotting."  He 
made  a  bad  business  of  his  trotting,  though,  for 
his  left  leg  was  stiff  already.  He  had  to  stop  within 
a  few  hundred  yards  and  bind  it  up. 

When  they  were  down  by  the  water  Thormod 
told  Sigurd  to  get  away  home  as  fast  as  he  could 
and  tell  his  mother  what  had  been  done.  "  I  ad- 
vise you  to  go  over  to  Scuf  for  a  while.  Now  get 
on  with  you,  and  leave  me  to  shift  for  myself.  I 
shall  hang  about  the  boat-house  out  there  on  the 
chance  of  getting  a  passage  out  of  the  firth." 

He  limped  off  cheerfully,  and  reached  the  boat- 
house.  It  was  empty,  but  there  were  signs  that  a 
boat  had  been  taken  out  lately.  No  doubt  it  would 
be  home  by  dark.  He  sought  out  a  berth  for  him- 
self in  dry  sea-weed,  made  himself  comfortable  and 
slept  out  the  rest  of  the  day.  In  the  dusk  he  was 
awakened  by  the  sound  of  rowing,  and  sat  up  to 
listen  to  it. 

It  all  fell  out  as  he  expected.     Men  brought  in 


i48  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

a  boat,  and  came  ashore.  He  heard  them  talking 
about  the  weather  and  debating  if  the  boat  should 
be  pulled  up  or  not.  They  decided  to  risk  it,  and 
went  their  way  home,  carrying  their  fish  and  gear. 

Thormod  waited  till  it  was  dark,  and  then  pulled 
up  the  stone  which  held  the  boat.  He  was  soon 
out  in  the  firth — a  fine  still  moonlight  night;  but 
that  did  not  trouble  him. 

If  he  had  known  that  Thordis,  the  spsewoman, 
was  having  visions,  he  might  have  hurried,  but  I 
doubt  it.  She  had  a  vision,  nodding  over  the  fire, 
and  woke  as  usual  with  a  start.  "  Where  art  thou, 
Bodwar,  my  son?  " 

"  Here,  mother.    What  do  you  want  of  me?  " 

"  There's  fish  to  be  taken  to-night,"  she  says, 
"if  you  are  the  man  to  take  him." 

"lama  man  for  any  game,"  said  Bodwar.  "  But 
where  are  your  fish,  and  what  kind  of  fish  are 
they?" 

"  Thormod  the  outlaw  is  abroad  on  the  firth, 
and  he  is  alone.  Come  thou  with  me,  and  we  shall 
catch  him."  Bodwar  was  all  agog  in  a  moment, 
roused  up  some  of  the  men,  took  his  weapons,  and 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  149 

had  the  party  down  by  the  boats  in  a  very  short 
time.  They  set  off  rowing  and  rowed  fast.  Thor- 
mod  heard  them  from  a  long  way  off,  and  looked 
about  to  see  what  he  had  best  do.  There  were 
shelves  of  rock  scattered  about  the  firth,  but  a  long 
way  from  each  other.  These  were  his  best  chance, 
he  thought,  though  bad  was  best.  He  had  the  boat 
bottom  upwards  in  no  time,  and  swam  for  the 
nearest  shelf.  It  was  fairly  long,  and  covered  with 
sea-weed.  Whether  the  high  tides  covered  it  he 
had  no  notion.  "  I  must  be  drowned  or  speared,  it 
seems,  and  may  be  both.  But  who  knows  his 
doom?  "  He  dug  himself  into  a  cleft  in  the  rocks, 
covered  himself  in  sea- weed,  and  waited. 

They  were  long  in  coming,  for  they  first  found 
the  boat,  and  debated  about  that.  Thordis  thought, 
certainly  not;  and  it  was  by  her  directions  that 
they  landed  on  the  rock-island,  and  went  over  it 
carefully  with  spears.  Twice  at  least  Thormod  felt 
them,  and  put  up  a  prayer  to  King  Olaf.  They 
passed  right  over  him  three  times  in  all — and  finally 
he  heard  Thordis  calling  to  him.  "  Thormod,  Thor- 
mod, come  out  and  fight  my  son.    If  you  have  more 


150  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

spunk  than  a  goat,  if  you  have  a  bolder  heart  than 
a  mare,  come  out  and  fight."  It  was  on  the  tip 
of  his  tongue  to  answer  her — but  some  wiser  spirit, 
perhaps  King  Olaf's,  restrained  him.  Then,  at  last, 
he  heard  them  go  grumbling  away ;  finally,  he  heard 
the  oars.  He  found  out  afterwards  that  they  had 
taken  his  boat  with  them. 

He  pulled  himself  out  of  the  sea-weed  and  got 
into  the  sea.  Swimming  was  very  difficult  now,  for 
his  left  leg  was  stiff  all  the  way  up.  He  swam  from 
island  to  island,  and  by  resting  on  every  one  man- 
aged to  make  some  way;  but  by  the  time  the  grey 
began  to  show  up  in  the  east  he  knew  he  was  done. 
He  crawled  his  last  on  to  a  shelf  of  rock,  and  there 
he  lay. 

Then  it  was,  as  they  tell  the  tale,  that  at  Wick, 
a  homestead  near  at  hand,  the  good  man  of  the 
house,  whose  name  was  Grim,  dreamed  a  dream. 

He  dreamed  that  a  man  in  a  white  cloak  stood 
by  his  bed.  He  saw  him  there  plainly.  He  was 
a  fair  man,  bearded,  broad-shouldered,  blue-eyed, 
not  over-tall.  He  was  leaning  on  a  spear,  and 
seemed  to  be  waiting  until  Grim  should  wake  up. 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  151 

When  Grim  sat  up  in  bed,  the  man  asked  him, 
"Grim,  do  you  sleep  or  wake?" 

"  I  am  awake,  as  I  believe,"  said  Grim.  "  And 
who  are  you  ?  " 

"lam  King  Olaf,  son  of  Harold,  and  I  have  a 
commandment  to  give  you,  which  is  this.  You  shall 
go  out  on  to  the  firth  and  look  for  my  poet  Thor- 
mod,  who  is  lying  spent  and  wounded  on  a  ledge 
of  rock.  He  has  not  had  fortunate  travel,  and 
will  die  if  he  is  not  picked  up.  And  if  you  are 
not  willing  to  go  yourself,  you  have  a  man  here 
who  will  gladly  do  my  errand.  He  is  a  guest  of 
yours,  and  calls  himself  Gest,  but  that  is  not  his 
name.  His  name  is  Steinar,  and  he  is  an  Ice- 
lander; and  he  is  out  here  to  avenge  the  death  of 
Thorgar  Hawarsson.  That  he  cannot  do,  but  he 
can  succour  the  avenger — and  so  he  will  if  you 
ask  him."  Hereupon  it  seemed  to  Grim  that  the 
figure  faded  into  the  dark,  but  that  he  himself 
remained,  broad-awake  and  sitting  up. 

He  got  out  of  bed,  put  on  his  clothes,  took  his 
sword,  and  went  to  wake  Gest. 

"What  is  it,  host?" 


152  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  Up  with  you.  I  have  a  word  or  two  to 
say." 

Gest  took  his  sword  and  went  out  with  him  into 
the  hall. 

"  Now,"  said  Grim,  "  if  it  is  for  the  first  or  last 
time,  tell  me  your  name." 

"  You  know  my  name." 

"  I  know  the  name  which  you  gave  me,  but  not 
whether  it  is  truly  your  name." 

"Why  should  it  not  be?" 

"  Because  I  believe  it  is  Steinar." 

"Who  told  you  that?" 

"  It  was  King  Olaf." 

"  And  when  did  you  see  King  Olaf  ?  " 

"A  moment  since."  He  told  him  what  he  had 
seen. 

Gest  said,  "  If  he  is  right  about  me,  he  is  right 
about  Thormod.  I  know  Thormod  well,  and  that 
he  has  been  beforehand  with  me  in  Thorgar's  busi- 
ness.   Now  we  must  go  and  look  for  him." 

They  took  boat  and  searched  the  islands,  and 
presently  found  Thormod.  "  How  is  it  with  you, 
fellow-traveller?"  said  Gest. 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  153 

"  Poorly  just  now,"  said  Thormod,  "  but  I  left 
a  man  up  at  Longness  poorer  than  me." 

"Who  was  that?" 

"  A  heavy  man  called  Leot." 

"That  makes  four  of  them?" 

"Yes,  four." 

"  Thorgar  may  rest  himself,  I  think." 

"  He  must  make  the  best  job  he  can  of  it,"  said 
Thormod.     "  It  would  take  me  two  years  to  get  " 
him  the  fifth,  and  Greenland  would  not  hold  me  for 
so  long." 

"  You  will  be  safe  with  me,"  Grim  said,  "  till 
your  leg  is  whole — and  then  we  will  fit  you  aboard 
Scuf's  ship."  Then  they  helped  him  into  the  boat, 
took  him  home  to  Wick,  and  kept  him  quiet  until 
the  next  Moot  was  over.  At  that  Moot  Sigurd 
was  outlawed  for  his  share  in  Leot's  killing,  but 
he  took  that  very  little  to  heart  because  he  was 
leaving  Greenland  with  Scuf. 

As  soon  as  the  Moot  was  over  Scuf  sailed  for 
Norway. 


XIX 

When  Thormod  looked  in  the  face  of  King  Olaf 
again,  he  did  not  see  much  friendship  in  it,  and 
was  dashed,  because  he  himself  felt  that  there  was 
nobody  in  the  world  like  his  king.  By  and  by  he 
found  out  why  that  was,  that  a  man  had  come  to 
the  court  before  him  and  given  out  that  he  had 
avenged  Thorgar's  death.  On  the  strength  of  that 
tale  he  had  been  rewarded  and  taken  into  friend- 
ship; and  when  Thormod  presented  himself  it  was 
as  one  who  had  failed  in  an  undertaking,  who  might 
be  a  good  poet,  but  was  not  a  man  of  any  other 
account.  Thormod  received  a  nod,  and  was  hurt. 
He  was  a  careless  and  light-hearted  soul,  but  capa- 
ble of  great  worship,  and  even  love.  All  the  affec- 
tion he  had  for  Thorgar  was  now  centred  in  the 
King,  and  to  be  so  received  was  to  be  cut  to  the 
heart. 

One  day,  at  dinner,  the  King  sent  down  the  drink- 
154 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  155 

ing  horn  to  Thormod,  and  called  for  a  verse  from 
him  in  return.  Thormod,  white  and  furious,  started 
up  and  spoke  what  came  to  him  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment.  It  stung.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  the 
dream-king  who  stood  by  Grim's  bed  and  interceded 
for  his  life  was  a  better  friend  to  him  than  this 
king  who  commanded  verses.  Everybody  stared, 
and  Olaf  stared  longest. 

"  Who  was  your  dream-king,  and  what  did  he 
do?" 

"  He  came  to  the  bedside  of  Grim  of  Wick  and 
bade  him  seek  me  where  I  lay  wounded  and  spent 
on  the  reef." 

"  I  asked  you,  who  was  he  ?  " 

"  He  called  himself  Olaf  Haroldsson." 

The  King  looked  queerly  at  him. 

"  Tell  me  what  you  did  in  Greenland,  Thormod." 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  wish  to  know  it."  Then 
he  recited  his  deeds,  and  the  deaths  of  Thorgrim 
Troll  and  his  nephews  Falgar,  Thorkel,  Thord  and 
Leot. 

"  But  Glum  tells  us  that  he  slew  Thorgrim 
Troll " 


156  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  Then  Glum  is  a  liar.  I,  the  left-handed  man, 
slew  him,  as  I  tell  you." 

"  Well,  said  King  Olaf,  "  no  one  can  say  that 
you  have  not  had  good  luck,  and  more  than  the 
fisherman's  luck.  The  fisherman  reckons — a  fish 
for  himself,  a  fish  for  the  boat,  a  fish  for  his  hook, 
and  a  fish  for  his  line.  But  you  are  a  fish  to  the 
good." 

"Yes,  I  am.  But  I  left  one  fish  in  the  water, 
and  regret  it." 

"  I  see  that  Glum  has  been  valiant  with  his 
mouth,"  said  Olaf,  "but  you  have  deeds  behind 
your  words.  Come  up  here  and  sit  by  me."  So 
they  made  friends  again,  and  Thormod  began  to 
share  Olaf's  counsels,  which  were  not  of  good 
augury  just  then.  In  fact,  it  appeared  that  after 
reigning  fifteen  years  over  Norway,  fighting,  and 
in  the  main  successfully  fighting,  against  the  might 
of  King  Cnut  of  England  and  Denmark,  he  must 
now,  as  he  put  it,  set  out  on  his  travels  again.  Earl 
Hakon,  a  steady  enemy  of  his,  was  now  in  force 
in  the  country,  and  to  his  banner  the  greater  part 
of  the  chiefs  were  going  over — for  one  reason  or 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  157 

another,  but  chiefly  for  this,  that  King  Olaf  had 
rendered  Norway  a  country  where  men  could  live 
in  peace  and  under  the  protection  of  his  law.  Now 
the  chiefs  had  been  accustomed  to  live,  on  the 
contrary,  in  war.  Wickings  at  sea,  they  had  also 
chosen  to  be  wickings  on  land.  As  for  the  law, 
they  had  no  use  for  that  at  all.  If  plunder  were 
to  be  punishable  under  King  Olaf's  law — and  it 
was  punishable  and  impartially  punished — a  chief 
was  in  no  better  case  than  a  pickpocket,  and  for  all 
they  could  see  there  was  no  virtue  in  chiefhood  at 
all.  Earl  Hakon  had  no  such  prejudice  concerning 
justice,  and  his  strength  was  increasing  from  day 
to  day. 

These  things  King  Olaf  confided  to  Thormod  by 
degrees,  and  by  increasing  degrees  as  his  affection 
for  the  young  man  grew.  He  had  no  reason  to 
repent  his  confidence,  for  Thormod  had  always  had 
a  turn  for  devotion,  and  now  that  his  dues  to  his 
murdered  friend  Thorgar  were  paid  he  had  leisure 
of  heart  to  admire  and  to  love  this  great  king. 
"  Sir,"  he  said,  "  it  seems  to  me  that  you  have 
not  Christianised  Norway  by  dipping  all  the  Nor- 


158  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

wegians  in  water,  and  that  you  will  have  to  dip 
many  more  of  them  in  blood  before  you  can  hope 
to  save  their  souls.  Now  whether  you  are  as  strong 
as  your  cause  deserves,  I  cannot  say,  but  of  this 
I  am  sure,  that  by  going  into  exile  for  a  time  you 
will  grow  stronger  rather  than  weaker.  To  begin 
with,  those  who  follow  you  thither  will  be  men 
on  whom  you  can  rely;  second,  a  very  short  time  of 
ill-government  under  Earl  Hakon  and  the  chiefs 
will  convince  the  people  that  yours  has  been  good 
government  and  theirs  is  no  government  at  all. 
When  you  come  back,  you  will  find  the  Norwegians 
ready  for  you.    That  is  what  I  think." 

The  King  had  his  chin  in  his  hand,  and  was  look- 
ing at  his  poet.  "  And  do  you  follow  me  if  I  go 
into  exile  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  do,"  said  Thormod. 

"And  what  is  your  reason?" 

"  You  are  my  King,"  said  Thormod,  "  and  I  will 
share  life  and  death  with  you.  When  I  leapt  into 
your  ship  in  the  harbour  I  put  my  life  into  your 
hands,  and  you  gave  it  back  to  me.  The  reason  I 
had  then  is  the  reason  I  have  now." 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  159 

"  I  was  not  your  King  then,  my  friend." 
"You  were  not.  But  I  saw  you  throned  there 
upon  the  ship  of  war,  and  a  voice  spoke  to  me  and 
said,  There,  Thormod,  is  your  King.  And  so  it 
has  turned  out.  Now  I  know  that  my  life  is  bound 
with  yours,  and  if  you  are  willing  it  shall  cease 
with  yours  also." 

"  Ah,"  said  King  Olaf,  "who  knows  when  his  life 
will  cease?" 

"  I  do,"  said  Thormod.     "  I  know  that  my  life 
will  cease  when  yours  ceases." 

The  King  gave  him  his  hand.    "  A  few  more  of 
your  sort,  and  I  shall  come  back  to  Norway." 

"  You  will  find  plenty  of  my  sort  in  Iceland,"  said 
Thormod. 


XX 


King  Olaf,  however,  did  not  go  West,  but 
rather  to  the  East,  where  he  was  certain  of  a  wel- 
come. His  queen,  Astrid,  his  daughter,  Ulfhild, 
his  son,  Magnus,  went  with  him;  and  he  mustered 
in  all  some  two  hundred  adherents,  of  whom  there 
are  known  to  this  tale  Fin  Ernesson  and  Thormod 
the  poet.  There  had  been  others,  and  in  particular 
Biorn  the  marshal,  a  famous  man  on  whom  he 
counted.  But  Biorn  asked  leave  to  go  home  to  his 
lands,  saying  that  he  was  too  old  for  adventure, 
and  King  Olaf  had  not  known  how  to  refuse  him. 
If  he  were  compelled  to  go  it  would  have  been 
against  his  will;  if  he  stayed  behind  he  might  re- 
main true  to  the  King's  cause.  So  Biorn  was  let 
off,  and  others  fell  off;  but  two  hundred  persons 
remained  to  Olaf  of  all  his  kingdom  of  Norway, 
and  with  these  he  threaded  the  Swedish  forests 
and  took  ship  for  Russia.     He  was  well  received 

1 60 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  161 

by  the  King,  Jarisleif,  and  offered  a  barony  on 
which  to  maintain  himself  and  his  family.  He  took 
that  thankfully,  and  there  we  lose  sight  of  him  for 
about  three  years. 

During  those  years  everything  in  Norway  turned 
to  favour  Earl  Hakon,  who  had  the  support  of 
King  Cnut  of  England,  and  of  his  money.  The 
money,  among  other  effects  it  had,  seduced  Biorn 
the  marshal  from  his  loyalty.  He  was  tempted  to 
swear  fealty  to  the  Earl,  and  he  fell.  But  towards 
the  end  of  Olaf's  sojourn  in  Russia  Earl  Hakon, 
on  a  voyage  home  from  England  to  Norway,  was 
lost  in  a  storm  off  the  north  of  Caithness,  he  and 
his  whole  ship's  company;  and  when  news  of  this 
was  brought  to  Biorn — that  the  Earl  was  drowned, 
and  Norway  without  a  lord — he  felt  that  he  had 
been  a  fool.  "  Who  is  so  fit  to  be  lord  of  Norway 
as  the  great  King  I  have  forsworn?  Are  we  to  see 
here  a  creature  of  King  Cnut's ;  and  is  that  mighty 
man  to  be  lord  of  half  the  earth?  That  will  not 
suit  either  Norway  or  me.  I  will  seek  out  King 
Olaf,  as  the  Prodigal  Son  sought  out  his  father, 
and  what  he  said  that  I  will  say." 


162  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

He  arrayed  himself  then  and  there,  and  with  a 
trusty  retinue  set  out  on  his  journey  to  the  East. 
He  travelled  night  and  day,  by  land  as  well  as  by 
sea,  and  did  not  stay  anywhere,  or  sleep  in  a  bed, 
until  he  had  come  up  with  King  Olaf.  The  King, 
who  knew  nothing  of  his  defection,  was  glad  of 
him  and  welcomed  him  as  a  friend.  Having  heard 
all  his  news  from  home,  he  was  full  of  thought, 
but  by  no  means  decided  what  to  do.  The  Russian 
King  had  offered  him  a  province,  the  province  of 
Kasan,  to  rule  over;  his  people,  however,  were  home- 
sick; as  for  himself,  he  was  tempted  to  renounce 
all  worldly  affairs,  to  go  pilgrim  to  Jerusalem,  and 
there  settle  himself  a  hermit.  Now  came  this  news 
of  Norway,  and  he  must  make  up  his  mind. 
"  Biorn,"  he  said,  "  between  now  and  then 
God  will  decide  my  road  tar  me,  and  not  I. 
But  tell  me  first  of  those  who  called  them- 
selves my  friends,  how  many  call  themselves  so 
now." 

Biorn  said,  "  It  has  gone  differently  with  different 
men.     But  many  are  against  you." 

"If  you  cannot  tell  me  more  about  them  you 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  163 

cannot  tell  me  anything  that  I  don't  know,"  said 
Olaf.    "  Tell  me  at  least  of  yourself." 

Then  Biorn  felt  that  his  time  had  come.  He 
rose  up ;  he  said,  "  Sir,  I  am  here  to  answer  for 
myself."  Then  he  grew  very  red  in  the  face,  and 
suddenly  fell  upon  his  knees,  bowed  his  head,  and 
took  King  Olaf  by  the  foot.  "  Sir,  Sir,  I  am  in 
your  hands  and  in  God's.  I  am  unworthy  to  live, 
for  I  have  taken  money  from  the  King  of  England 
and  sworn  fealty  to  him — but  now  I  renounce  that 
service,  and  am  yours  altogether." 

King  Olaf  nodded  his  head,  looking  down  at  the 
prostrate  chief.  "  Stand  up,  Biorn,  stand  up,  and 
be  my  friend,"  he  said.  "  Make  excuses  to 
God  for  your  false  oaths,  and  may  He  be  as 
merciful  to  you  as  I  will  be.  I  see  very  well 
that  all's  to  do  in  Norway  if  you  can  be 
false." 

Biorn  kissed  the  King's  foot  before  he  got  up 
from  his  knees.  He  was  now  sincerely  repentant, 
and  meant  to  do  well;  but  King  Olaf  was  not  en- 
couraged by  his  report  of  himself,  and  not  at  all 
certain  what  he  would  do.    He  took  full  time  to 


164  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

consider  of  it,  consulting  nobody  until  he  had  made 
up  his  own  mind. 

It  was  a  dream  he  had  in  the  small  hours  of 
a  morning  which  decided  him.  He  had  slept  badly, 
and  that  only  in  the  morning  hours,  and  so  lightly 
that  when  he  was  awake  (as  he  supposed)  it  seemed 
to  him  that  he  had  not  slept  at  all.  A  small  and 
level  grey  light  was  over  the  hall  where  he  lay. 
He  could  see  all  the  things  in  the  great  room  quietly 
in  their  places;  and  then  presently,  as  his  eyes 
ranged  from  one  thing  to  another,  from  that  to 
this,  they  fell  upon  a  tall,  grave  and  noble  figure 
sitting  by  his  bedside.  This  man  was  elderly,  for 
his  beard  was  grey,  and  his  bushy  eyebrows  were 
grey  too.  His  head  was  cowled,  and  over  the  cowl 
was  a  circlet  of  gold.  Between  his  knees  stood  a 
long-sword,  on  the  pommel  of  which  were  both 
his  hands.  As  he  looked  it  came  into  his  mind 
that  here  was  no  other  than  the  spirit  of  King  Olaf 
Tryggvasson  whom  all  Norway  revered ;  but  he  said 
nothing — not  because  he  was  frightened,  but  out  of 
respect  to  the  great  dead  king. 

Presently  the  dead  spoke   to  him  as   follows: 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  165 

"  You  are  sick  of  thinking  what  you  shall  do  here- 
after; but  it  is  wonderful  to  me  that  it  should  seem 
open  to  you  to  renounce  the  realm  which  God  has 
given  you,  and  of  taking  as  a  gift  from  a  foreigner 
a  kingdom  where  you  would  be  a  vassal.  Go  you 
back  rather  to  the  country  which  is  your  own,  and 
rule  it  with  your  own  strength  and  virtue.  If 
you  give  it  up  to  those  who  are  your  subjects  you 
make  yourself  lower  than  they.  It  is  glorious  to 
defeat  your  enemies,  it  is  glorious  to  die  in  war; 
but  it  is  inglorious  to  fear  the  trial  of  your  right. 
Doubt  not,  hide  nothing,  dare  everything.  God 
will  declare  Himself,  and  let  His  be  the  arbitra- 
ment, as  right  is."  Then  the  spirit  rose  and  went 
down  the  hall.  King  Olaf  watched  him  go,  but 
heard  not  a  sound.  When  he  came  to  the  door  of 
the  hall,  like  mist  he  was  lost  in  it. 

After  that  he  would  not  doubt;  and  that  very 
day  he  called  an  assembly  and  declared  his  purpose. 
But  be  these  things  as  they  may,  they  belong  to  the 
saga  of  King  Olaf  the  Holy,  which  exists  and  is 
very  worthy  to  be  read;  whereas  we  are  only  con- 
cerned with  the  rest  of  the  fortunes  of  Thormod 


166  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

the  poet,  whose  light  heart  had  led  him  to  bind 
them  up  with  those  of  his  king.  Let  it  be  enough, 
therefore,  to  say  that  King  Olaf  returned  the  way 
he  had  come,  and  quartered  himself  for  a  winter 
with  his  brother-in-law  the  King  of  Sweden.  At 
that  court  he  collected  about  him  some  six  hundred 
loyal  Norwegians,  and  added  to  them  four  hun- 
dred men  furnished,  not  very  willingly,  by  his 
brother-in-law.  Then  came  in  one  Dag  Ringsson, 
a  high-descended  chief  long  exiled  from  Norway, 
whom  now,  by  promises  of  the  restitution  of  his 
estates,  King  Olaf  won  over  to  his  side — him  and 
twelve  hundred  men  behind  him.  Now  then,  hav- 
ing well  over  two  thousand  men  to  his  banner,  King 
Olaf  set  out  to  conquer  Norway  or  to  fall. 

On  his  way  through  the  forest  country  towards 
the  great  ridge  which  divides  Sweden  from  Norway 
many  more  men  joined  him — forest-dwellers  for 
the  most  part,  with  some  great  rogues  among  them. 
Two  mighty  robbers,  Gank-Thorer  and  his  brother 
Afarfarte,  came  with  thirty  men  behind  them,  and 
asked  the  King's  leave  to  go  with  him.  Fine  men 
they  were,  and  well-armed.     The  King  said  that 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  167 

he  would  take  them  if  they  were  Christians,  but  if 
not,  not.  Gank-Thorer  said  that  he  was  neither  a 
Christian  nor  a  heathen.  "  I  believe  in  myself,"  he 
said,  "  and  in  my  strength.  They  have  never  failed 
me  yet,  and  I  shall  trust  in  them  until  they  do." 

Said  King  Olaf,  "  I  find  it  a  pity  that  such  a 
fine  murdering  man  as  yourself  should  not  believe 
in  Christ." 

But  Gank-Thorer  replied  that  maybe  if  he  did 
so  believe  he  would  not  be  such  a  good  murderer. 
And  then  he  said,  "  Show  me,  King,  a  Christian 
in  your  company  who  has  my  inches  or  shoulders." 

"  Come,"  said  King  Olaf,  "  into  the  water  with 
you,  and  after  me.  You  shall  have  great  honour 
and  advancement." 

A  far  f  arte  refused,  and  was  for  turning  away, 
but  his  brother  kept  him  from  going.  "  Hold  still, 
you  fool,  and  let  the  King  go  forward.  We  will 
follow  in  the  rear  and  get  our  share  in  the  battle; 
and  after  that  it  is  not  likely  he  will  plague  us  with 
his  religion."    And  that  was  what  they  did. 

The  army  climbed  the  ridge  and  looked  West 


168  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

over  all  Norway  to  the  sea.  King  Olaf  stood  for 
a  long  time  regarding  it,  and  Thormod  stood  beside 
him,  gazing  with  all  his  eyes.  Both  were  silent, 
but  Thormod's  eyes  were  filled  with  tears,  though 
he  was  very  happy.  King  Olaf  presently  noticed 
him.     "Why  do  you  cry?"  he  asked. 

Thormod  said,  "  It  is  because  it  is  all  so  beautiful, 
and  that  the  things  we  do  are  shameful  and  pitiful 
at  once.  And  also  I  think  that  a  man's  life  might 
be  as  beautiful  as  that  far  prospect,  if  he  did  but 
know  how  to  accomplish  it.  I  am  crying  because 
it  is  beautiful  and  I  can  never  have  it." 

"  Why,  silly  one,  are  we  not  here  with  a  great 
army  to  get  it?" 

"  Beauty  of  that  sort  is  not  to  be  won  with  an 
army,"  said  Thormod. 

"  Maybe  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  will  look  as 
fair  as  that,"  said  the  King;  and  Thormod — 

"  Maybe  it  will.  But  of  that  I  know  nothing, 
and  of  this  much." 

The  army,  to  call  it  so,  which  was  more  like  a 
horde  than  an  army,  descended  the  Fjeld  in  loose 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  169 

order,  but  assembled  at  Suul,  which  was  a  farm- 
stead in  Vaerdale  held  by  a  bondsman  called  Thor- 
geir  Flek,  well  affected  to  the  King's  party.     Olaf 
stayed  with  Thorgeir  all  night,  and  in  the  morning 
early  gave  the  signal  for  the  march.    Two  of  Thor- 
geir's  sons,  much  against  their  father's  will,  ac- 
companied the  King.     They  marched  to  Staff,  and 
had  Staff  Moor  before  them ;  there  King  Olaf  heard 
that  his  enemies  were  on  the  march  against  him, 
and  that  he  must  adopt  battle-order  so  as  to  be 
ready  for  them.     The  first  thing  he  did  was  to 
muster  all  ranks,  and  the  first  thing  that  came  of 
that  was  that  he  found  nine  hundred  heathens  un- 
der arms.     He  was  clear  that  he  would  not  have 
them  on  those  terms.     "  Our  force  is  small  indeed 
without  the  help  of  God,"  he  said,  "  and  that  I 
cannot  expect  if  I  mix  up  heathenry  with  my  men. 
Now  let  those  men  be  christened,  or  let  them  go 
home.     Of  two  things  one."     The  heathen  held 
an  assembly  and  talked  the  matter  up  and  down. 
Four  hundred  would  go  into  the  water,  five  hun- 
dred would  not.    Those  stiff-necked  King  Olaf  sent 
away.     Then  he  came  once  more  upon  the  two 


170  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

brother-murderers,  Gank-Thorer  and  Afarfarte. 
"  Now  are  you  two  Christian  men,  or  are  you 
not?" 

"  We  are  not." 

"  Then  you  cannot  come  with  me.  I  give  you 
strict  command,"  he  said.  "  Go  into  the  water,  or 
go  away." 

They  said  they  would  talk  of  it,  and  that  was 
allowed  them. 

"  Now,"  said  Afarfarte,  "  I  have  come  so  far 
in  the  prospect  of  a  battle,  and  I  don't  intend  to 
turn  back;  but  I  don't  care  two  straws  on  which 
side  I  fight;  and  maybe  the  other  side  will  not  be 
so  stiff  about  this  religious  affair  as  the  King  is. 
I  am  for  sounding  them  first  of  all  before  anything 
else  is  done.    What  is  your  opinion?" 

"  My  opinion,"  Gank-Thorer  said,  "  is  that  I  shall 
fight  on  the  King's  side;  for  a  king  he  is,  and  if 
he  win  the  day  he  will  reward  kingly.  And  as 
for  religion,  if  I  must  believe  in  a  God,  it  may 
be  Christ  as  well  as  any  other,  for  the  odds  are 
that  all  gods  are  but  names  of  one  God.  If  it  will 
please  King  Olaf  to  have  us  Christians,  why,  let 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  171 

us  go  into  the  river.  There's  nothing  in  that — and 
then  for  the  battle." 

Agreed.  The  thing  was  done  there  and  then  by 
the  King's  priest,  and  immediately  after  they  were 
confirmed  by  a  bishop. 

"  Now,"  said  Olaf,  "  two  such  fine  men  as  you 
shall  have  all  honour  from  me.  I  appoint  you 
my  bodyguard." 

Then  he  ordered  his  forces,  taking  the  centre 
himself,  giving  Dag  Ringsson  the  right  wing,  and 
the  Swedes  the  left.  The  Cross  was  to  be  painted 
on  all  shields  and  helms  in  white.  The  battle-cry 
was  "  Christ !  the  Cross !  the  King !  " 

He  held  a  council  of  war  wherein  it  was  debated 
whether  the  army  should  waste  the  country  or  not. 
Fin  Ernesson  was  strongly  for  it,  and  Thormod, 
who  was  present,  broke  into  vehement  song: 


1  Fire  house  and  hut, 

Burn  steading  and  stall; 
See  the  doors  are  shut 

Till  the  roof-trees  fall ! 
Then  trust  the  sword 

And  let  it  alone 
To  prove  the  King's  word 

And  win  him  his  own." 


172  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

He  sang  that  resonantly,  and  the  chiefs  made  a 
hero  of  him — but  King  Olaf  would  not  have  it. 
"  With  fire  and  sword  have  I  swept  Norway  afore- 
time— but  that  was  reward  of  idolatry  and  sin 
against  God.  This  time  they  have  sinned  against 
me — and  what  is  this  offence  compared  with  that? 
No,  I  can  have  mercy,  but  God,  Who  is  just  and 
perfectly  good,  can  have  none.  And  there  is  an- 
other thing  to  be  said.  If  I  give  you  leave  to 
plunder,  and,  loaded  up  to  the  neck  with  your 
spoils,  you  are  beaten  in  the  battle,  what  will  befall 
you?  You  will  be  like  men  in  shipwreck  who  stuff 
their  pockets  with  silver  and  gold,  and  find  that 
cork  would  have  suited  them  better.  But  suppose 
you  win.  Then  it  will  be  as  well  to  think  of  plun- 
der, and  useful  to  have  well-filled  stockyards  wherein 
to  make  your  profit.  Take  what  cattle  you  want 
for  your  day's  ration;  take  and  kill  spies  of  the 
enemy — but  spare  all  else,  for  they  are  my  people 
and  not  yours."  And  then  he  turned  to  where 
Thormod  and  the  rest  of  his  poets  were  standing. 
There  were  there  besides  Thormod,  Gissur  and 
Thorfinn  Mudr.     Sigvat,  who  was  the  most  re- 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  173 

nowned  poet  at  the  King's  court,  was  not  there  then. 
"  You  poets,"  said  the  King,  "  have  other  weapons 
than  your  axes  and  swords,  though  I  know  that 
some  of  you  can  give  an  account  of  yourselves 
with  them  too.  Now  you  shall  be  within  my  own 
shield-wall,  that  you  may  be  free  to  call  upon  my 
men  as  they  need  your  voices." 

Thormod  said  to  Gissur,  "  Don't  stand  too  close 
to  me,  brother.  Leave  room  for  Sigvat,  in  case  he 
comes  up  in  a  hurry,  and  the  King  find  that  he  can- 
not do  without  him." 

King  Olaf  heard  that.  "  No  need  to  make  light 
of  Sigvat  because  he  is  not  here.  He  has  served 
me  well  in  his  time,  and  now  maybe  he  is  serving 
me  better.  He  is  in  Rome,  I  believe,  and  at  his 
prayers.     God  knows  we  need  them." 

"  Sir,"  said  Thormod,  "  may  God  hear  his 
prayers,  and  may  that  serve  your  need.  But  if 
all  of  us  were  just  now  saying  our  prayers,  it 
would  be  roomy  about  your  banner,  I  am  thinking." 

"  Peace  to  your  tongue,  young  man,"  said  King 
Olaf.     "You  are  never  without  an  answer." 


XXI 

The  army  marched  down  to  Sticklestead  and 
encamped  there  for  the  night.  It  was  known 
that  the  enemy  was  close  at  hand.  "  To-mor- 
row will  settle  affairs  between  us,"  the  King 
said. 

He  ate  his  supper  in  a  tent  which  had  been  put 
up  for  him,  and  was  himself  much  as  usual,  con- 
fident, plain-spoken  and  cheerful.  But  he  noticed 
that  Thormod  was  very  glum,  and  kept  him  back 
when  the  rest  of  the  company  retired,  in  order  to 
comfort  him. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you,  poet  ?  Why  are 
you  without  a  word  among  us?" 

Thormod  muttered  something  inaudible,  and  then 
declared  himself  in  a  rush.  "  It  is  because  I  don't 
know  how  it  will  be  to-morrow — whether  you  will 
keep  troth  with  me  or  not." 

174 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  175 

"  What  do  you  wish  me  to  do  for  you  ?  " 

"  To  keep  your  promise  that  we  have  the  same 
quarters  to-morrow  night  as  to-night." 

The  King  smiled  at  him.  "  My  lad,  it  may  be 
that  I  shall  not  have  the  ordering  of  our  quarters 
to-morrow  night — but  so  far  as  I  am  able  I  promise 
you  that  we  shall  share  whatever  lodging  may 
be  assigned  to  me." 

Their  eyes  met,  and  the  young  man's  face  was 
lit  all  over  by  a  smile.  "  Why,  then,  I  shall  do 
well,"  he  said.  "  Now  I  am  ready  for  the  Spear- 
Moot  with  you,  and  no  fumbling  about  it.  Trust 
me  to  be  at  hand  whether  the  other  poets  are  here 
or  not." 

King  Olaf  nodded  his  head  and  smiled  upon 
him.  "  I  know  that  you  have  been  faithful 
to  me  in  life,  and  so  will  I  be  to  you.  But 
it  may  be  that  I  shall  lose  my  life  in  this 
battle." 

"  Then  it  is  certain  that  I  shall  lose  mine  too," 
said  Thormod.  "  I  have  cast  my  mind  back  over 
the  deeds  of  my  life,  and  I  don't  know  a  better 
thing  that  ever  I  did  than  when  I  leapt  into  your 


176  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

ship.  I  have  served  Thorgar,  who  was  my  sworn- 
brother,  and  have  killed  more  men  for  his  ac- 
count than  I  have  for  yours.  But  wait  a  little 
till  to-morrow's  bill  be  cast.  Then  my  score 
for  you  may  be  higher  than  it  was  for  Thor- 
gar. 

"How  old  are  you?"  says  the  King.  "And 
how  many  men  have  you  killed  in  fight?" 

"  I  am  thirty-five,  and  I  think  that  I  have  been 
the  death  of  ten  men  at  least — and  there  may  be 
more." 

"You  are  not  very  old  yet,"  says  King 
Olaf,  "and  much  purgatory  will  not  be  asked 
of  you,  I  daresay.  Yet  there  must  be  al- 
lowed a  twelve  hours  for  each  of  your  dead 
men,  and  after  that  I  engage  you  will  have 
ease." 

"  It  will  be  little  ease  to  me  if  I  am  not  with 
you,"  said  Thormod. 

"  I  shall  be  there,"  said  King  Olaf. 

He  lay  down  on  his  bed,  and  Thormod,  with  no 
leave  asked,  covered  himself  with  his  cloak  and  lay 
on  the  floor.     He  was  soon  asleep;  but  the  King 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  177 

could  not  sleep  at  all  until  near  dawn,  and  even 
so  he  awoke  with  the  early  light. 

He  lay  for  a  time  thinking  of  life  past  and  to 
come,  in  a  state  of  strange  calm,  seeing  that  he  had 
a  clear  vision  of  what  the  day  was  to  bring  him. 
He  saw  Thormod  on  the  floor  of  the  tent,  deeply 
asleep,  and  had  a  kind  thought  for  him.  "  There 
are  not  many  like  him  about  me  now,"  he  thought. 
"  He  is  very  little  of  a  Christian,  but  very  much 
of  a  man."  Then  he  called  to  him  gently,  "  Thor- 
mod, Thormod." 

Thormod  opened  his  eyes  in  a  moment,  then  sat 
up.     "  Did  you  call  me?  " 

"  Yes.  It  is  yet  very  early,  but  we  had  better 
be  stirring.    Do  you  awaken  the  host  with  a  song." 

Thormod  rose  to  his  feet  and  went  to  the  door 
of  the  tent.  He  looked  out.  The  sun  was  burning 
the  mountain-tops.  "  It  is  not  very  early,"  he  said, 
and  as  he  said  so  he  was  thinking  of  what  he  would 
sing.  Then  he  began  the  old  Lay  of  Bearse,  who 
had  been  a  mighty  hero  of  modern  times.  So  loud 
he  sang  that  the  whole  army  heard  him  and  knew 
what  he  was  singing. 


178  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

"  The  day  is  breaking, 
The  house-cock  shaking 
His  rustling  wings ; 
The  priest-bell  rings 
To  cry  the  morn; 
The  sounding  horn 
Calls  up  the  thralls  to  work  and  to  weep. 

"  Now,  sons  of  Adil,  cast  off  sleep ! 
Wake  up,  wake  up, 
No  wassail  cup 
Nor  maiden's  cheer 
Awaits  you  here; 
Wake,  Rolf  of  the  bow, 
Wake,  Hare,  to  your  blow; 
Up  in  your  might,  the  day  is  breaking, 
'Tis  Hildr's  game  that  waits  your  waking ! " x 

It  was  fine  to  see  on  all  sides  armed  men  rise 
up  in  the  heath  and  shake  their  spears  in  the  air. 
Many  of  them  came  about  the  singer  in  the  tent- 
door  and  thanked  him  for  the  song.  "  The  house- 
carles'  whet,"  they  called  it.  King  Olaf  was  much 
pleased.  He  held  out  to  Thormod  a  gold  arm-ring. 
"  Here's  for  the  song — a  brave  one." 

Thormod  thanked  him.  "  Sigvat  prays  for  you, 
and  I  sing.  Each  of  us  does  what  he  is  fitted  for. 
But  now  I  will  do  better  than  he,  it  may  be,  for  I 
shall  fight  for  you.    To  you,  Sir,  I  say,  remember 

1  The  translation  is  Samuel  Laing's  (Seo-Kings  of  Norway, 
H,3i4). 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  179 

your  promise  that  we  go  to  the  same  quarters  this 
evening." 

"  So  we  shall,  if  we  both  leave  Sticklestead 
alive." 

"  We  will  leave  it,  alive  or  dead,"  said  Thormod. 

Now  they  arrayed  the  battle,  and  stood  facing 
each  other  for  a  space  of  time.  It  was  a  clear  and 
fine  day,  promising  great  heat.  King  Olaf ,  looking 
to  right  and  left  of  him,  could  not  see  Dag  Ringsson 
and  his  men,  though  the  Swedes  were  there  on  the 
left  wing.  In  front  of  him  was  a  host  twice  the 
size  of  his  own,  but,  as  he  judged,  undisciplined 
and  likely  to  be  ill-led.  He  let  it  be  known  to  the 
Swedes  that  he  should  advance  his  banner  at  once, 
and  look  to  them  to  support  him  should  he  be 
checked.  Then,  looking  about  him,  he  lifted  up  his 
sword  by  the  point,  and  cried  aloud,  "  Advance, 
men  of  the  Cross ! "  The  whole  of  his  bodyguard 
swept  down  the  slope,  and  met  and  were  swallowed 
up  in  the  ranks  of  the  bondsmen. 

At  the  first  onset  the  bondsmen  were  thrown 
back  and  there  was  great  confusion ;  but  their  num- 


180  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

bers  were  such  that  the  wings  overlapped  and  en- 
folded the  King's  small  force.  The  Swedes,  who 
were  languid  fighters  at  all  times,  were  slow  in 
support,  and  there  was  serious  danger  that  the 
King's  army  might  be  destroyed  in  detail.  Dag 
Ringsson  on  his  right  was  just  in  time  to  prevent 
this;  but  on  his  left  King  Olaf's  flank  was  turned. 
The  fighting  was  now  hand-to-hand,  such  as  North- 
men love,  and  there  was  neither  time  nor  place  in 
which  to  see  who  lived  or  who  fell.  As  a  fact,  the 
two  great  robbers,  Gank-Thorer  and  Afarfarte,  fell 
in  the  first  charge,  while  the  King  himself  and  all 
of  his  household  behind  the  shield-wall  were  un- 
touched. But  now  that  the  enemy  had  closed  about 
them  on  all  sides,  the  King's  itch  for  fighting  irked 
him,  and  he  said  to  Thormod,  "  Stay  you  within 
the  wall,  but  I  am  going  through  them  if  I  can." 

"  I  shall  go  with  you,"  Thormod  said,  and  fol- 
lowed him.  He  was  unarmed  about  the  body,  and 
had  no  weapon  with  him  but  his  notable  axe  of 
his  own  contrivance.  But  he  was  far  beyond  notic- 
ing such  things,  and  beside  the  King  and  Fin 
Ernesson  mowed  a  swathe  through  the  host,  as  if 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  181 

he  was  cutting  meadow-grass.  Great  men  fell  on 
both  sides.  Thorgeir  of  Quitstead,  a  leader  of  the 
bondsmen,  was  one;  Thord,  the  King's  banner- 
bearer,  was  another.  By  this  time  the  sun  was 
veiled,  and  a  heavy  darkness  began  and  grew 
denser  and  denser;  and  so  it  remained  for  the  rest 
of  the  day. 

Now,  as  he  hewed  his  way,  King  Olaf  with  his 
bodyguard  came  to  a  knoll  in  the  ground  where 
stood  the  chief  of  his  enemies,  Kalf  Arnesson  and 
Thorer  the  Dog.  Of  all  men  in  the  world  King 
Olaf  hated  Thorer,  and  he  hewed  at  him  as  if  he 
hated  him.  But  the  sword  turned  aside;  it  was 
as  if  he  did  but  beat  the  dust  out  of  him.  Time 
and  again  he  slashed  at  him — but  without  profit. 
So  then  he  turned  to  see  who  was  beside  him,  and 
saw  it  was  old  Biorn  the  marshal.  "  Kill  me  that 
dog,"  he  said,  and  the  marshal  hewed  at  him  with 
his  axe.  The  axe  did  not  wound  him,  but  the  blow 
knocked  him  down.  At  that  moment  the  King  had 
slain  Olaf  Arnesson,  and  as  he  fell  Thorer  the  Dog 
drove  his  spear  clean  through  Biorn,  and  cried  out, 
"  That  is  how  we  kill  the  bear."    Just  then  Thor- 


182  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

stein  Knarsmead  struck  the  King  with  an  axe  upon 
the  left  thigh — a  grim  wound.  Fin  killed  him 
outright — but  the  King  could  hardly  stand,  and 
had  to  draw  off  for  a  while,  using  his  sword  for 
a  walking-stick.  Thorer  the  Dog  sprang  after  him 
and  drove  his  spear  into  his  back.  Then  came  on 
Kalf  Arnesson  and  hit  him  in  the  neck  with  an 
axe.  Those  were  his  death-wounds.  He  fell  on 
his  face,  and  the  battle  rolled  over  him.  But  as 
soon  as  he  found  opportunity  Thorer  the  Dog  came 
back  to  where  the  King  had  fallen,  and  laid  the 
body  out  fairly  and  straight,  and  covered  it  with 
a  cloak.  He  wiped  the  blood  away  from  his  face 
and  closed  his  eyes.  Very  noble  he  looked,  still 
ruddy-cheeked,  and  at  peace,  as  if  he  was  asleep. 
Thorer  said  afterwards  that  the  King's  blood  ran 
up  between  his  ringers  to  a  wound  of  his  own  upon 
the  forearm — which  wound  healed  of  itself  without 
need  of  any  bandaging. 

The  battle  had  by  this  time  rolled  off  to  the 
King's  right,  where  Dag  Ringsson  was  pressing  the 
enemy  hard.  Thormod,  who  had  been  wounded  in 
the  shoulder,  did  not  know  that  the  King  was  dead, 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  183 

and  followed  the  lead  of  Fin  Ernesson  to  support 
Dag.  By  the  time  he  came  up  with  the  fighting 
it  was  so  dark  that  no  more  could  be  done.  Each 
side  was  drawing  off  and  making  ready  to  spend 
the  night  on  the  hillside.  Then  came  a  man  by 
Thormod,  who  knew  him,  and  told  him  the  news. 
Thormod  stared  at  him  stupidly.     "He  is  dead  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  he  is  dead,  with  three  great  wounds 
on  him." 

Thormod  sat  down.  "  Then  he  has  used  me  ill 
— for  I  am  alive." 

"  You  won't  be  alive  very  long  if  you  stay  here," 
the  man  said.  Arrows  were  shrilling  overhead. 
Thormod  waved  him  off,  and  sat  on. 

"  King  Olaf ,"  he  said,  "  wherever  you  may  be, 
do  you  mean  to  forsake  me  now?  Did  you  not 
promise  me  that  you  would  not  cast  me  off  ?  Have 
you  forgotten  me?" 

An  arrow  struck  him  in  the  dark.  He  heard 
it  come,  he  felt  it  pierce  his  side.  Then  he  felt 
nothing  more  than  a  little  throbbing  in  his  side. 
"  That  was  a  good  draw  of  somebody's.  Now  I 
know  that  it  shall  all  be  as  I  wished  for  it."    He 


1 84  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

stood  up  and  felt  the  arrow.  The  head  was  buried. 
He  broke  off  the  shaft  close  to  the  skin. 

He  heard  a  wounded  man  calling  through  the 
dark.  "  Is  there  any  here  will  crack  a  joke  with 
me  ?  Many  a  man  can  die  laughing,  and  so  I  would. 
But  who  can  laugh  by  himself?  " 

Another  answered  him  from  near  at  hand.  "  111 
have  you  fared,  because  you  have  done  ill  this  day," 
this  man  said.    "  Is  that  nothing  to  you?  " 

"  Who  are  you  to  scold  me  ?  "  said  the  first. 

"  You  may  call  me  Heming.  And  who  may 
yourself  be?" 

"  My  name  is  Hearrand,  and  I  had  a  son  of  your 
name,  whom  I  loved." 

"  And  I  have  a  father  called  Hearrand,  and  have 
no  love  for  him  at  all,  since  he  has  done  ill  by  the 
King." 

"  Is  that  my  son  Heming?  Nay,  but  I  have  done 
amiss,  and  now  I  know  it.  But  come  over 
to  me,  my  son,  and  let  me  see  where  thou  art 
hurt." 

"  I'll  not  come,"  said  Heming;  "  I'll  not  mix  my 
blood  with  the  blood  of  traitors.     But  come  you 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  185 

here  to  die.     Maybe  the  blood  of  the  King's  men 
will  recommend  you  where  you  are  going." 

"  Tell  me  what  thy  hurt  is,  my  son,"  says  Hear-  • 
rand. 

"  I  cannot.  I  only  know  that  I  am  on  my  knees 
because  the  dead  are  too  thick  to  let  me  down; 
but  my  guts,  I  believe,  are  in  the  heather.  And 
how's  yourself,  father?" 

"  I  have  a  spear  through  me,"  said  Hearrand, 
"and  can't  get  it  out." 

Thormod  lifted  him  and  dragged  him  to  where 
his  son  was.  He  left  them  together,  and  wandered 
off. 

He  now  felt  light-headed  and  empty,  as  though 
there  was  nothing  at  all  in  his  body.  But  he  had 
no  pain,  and  was  perfectly  quiet  and  easy  in  his 
mind.  Men  carrying  wounded  went  past  him,  and 
he  followed  their  lead,  which  brought  him  to  some 
farm  buildings  in  the  byres  of  which  they  were 
laying  their  burdens.  He  went  to  the  door  of  a 
barn  and  leaned  against  the  door-post,  feeling  very 
sick.  Idly  in  his  mind  he  wondered  why  he  bled 
so  little;  then  thought  that  the  head  of  the  arrow 


186  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

might  stop  the  outflow.  Likely  he  was  bleeding 
internally.  "  I  must  be  as  full  as  a  black-pudding," 
he  thought. 

A  man  stood  by  him  and  began  to  talk  to  him. 
"  You  were  in  the  battle,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  was  there." 

"  On  which  side  were  you?  " 

"  On  that  which  had  the  better." 

"  Nay,  then,  that  won't  carry,  that  word."  He 
was  looking  at  the  gold  arm-ring  which  Thormod 
wore.  "  That  is  a  King's  gift.  It  is  easy  to  see 
you  were  a  King's  man.  Give  me  that  ring.  I'll 
hide  it  for  you,  and  then  you  will  be  safe  with 
the  rest.     Are  you  wounded  ?  " 

"  Oh,  a  scratch,"  said  Thormod.  "  You  can  have 
the  ring  if  you  want  it.  It  makes  little  odds  to 
me  now." 

The  man  held  out  his  hand,  and  Thormod  with 
a  quick  slash  of  his  axe  took  it  off  at  the  wrist. 

"  Hey,  you  have  cut  off  my  hand !" 

"  It  is  so  that  you  should  steal  no  more  with  it," 
said  Thormod,  and  turned  away  his  eyes  from 
him. 


THE  LIGHT  HEART  187 

Then  came  out  a  young  woman  with  a  kettle 
and  saw  him.  She  stopped.  "You  look  very 
sick." 

"I  am  sick  enough,"  said  Thormod. 
"  Are  you  a  King's  man  ?  " 
"  I  was.    But  they  have  killed  him." 
"  Will  you  have  your  wound  dressed  ?  " 
"  It  is  a  small  wound  for  a  dressing — but  as  you 
will." 

She  went  away  and  came  back  to  him  with  some 
hot  milk,  which  he  refused,  saying  it  was  not 
worth  while.  Then  she  felt  for  the  iron,  and  tried 
to  move  it,  but  could  not.  Thormod  watched  her 
languidly.  "  Get  your  knife,"  he  said,  "  get  your 
knife  and  cut  down  to  the  iron.  Then  I  can  get 
a  good  hold  with  the  pincers." 

With  a  sharp  knife  she  made  a  cut  across  the 
wound,  and  touched  the  iron  with  it.  Thormod, 
still  leaning  to  his  door-post,  took  the  ring  off  his 
arm  and  gave  it  to  her.  "  King  Olaf  gave  me  that 
this  morning  for  a  song,"  he  said.  Then  he  took 
the  pincers  from  her,  and  himself  fixed  them  about 
the  iron  of  the  arrow.    "  Now  for  it,"  he  said,  and 


188  THE  LIGHT  HEART 

wrenched  it  out.     Black  and  curdled  blood  gushed 
after  it;  then  red  blood  flowed  freely. 

Thormod  was  looking  at  the  barb,  held  by  the 
pincers'  claws.  "  The  King  has  fed  us  well,"  he 
said.  "  There's  a  co-coat  of  fat  about  the  root  of 
my  heart."  As  she  looked  at  him  she  saw  his  eyes 
fix  and  glaze.  His  head  dropped  forward,  and 
then  he  fell.     Thormod  was  dead. 

THE   END 


• 


FIRECRACKER   JANE 

By  Auce  Calhoun  Haines,  author  of  "  The  Luck  of  the 
Dudley  Grahams,"  "  Cock-a-doodle  Hill,"  "  Partners  for 
Fair."    $1.50 

Firecracker  Jane  is  the  motherless,  lovable,  red-haired 
daughter  of  an  American  cavalry  officer,  and  has  grown  up 
with  her  father  and  "  S.  O.  S.,"  a  younger  officer,  for  her 
"  pals."  Stung  by  what  she  thinks  is  her  father's  indifference, 
she  elopes  with  Riccardo,  her  Mexican  cousin,  and  is  plunged 
into  the  midst  of  the  Mexican  chaos  of  three  years  ago. 
Follows  then  a  series  of  adventures  which  culminate  in  her 
capture  by  Valdes,  the  Lion  of  the  North,  a  brutal  revolution- 
ary leader.  Her  escape,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  love 
tangle  is  unraveled  after  war  with  Germany  began,  provide 
a  happy  ending. 

The  New  York  Evening  Sun:  "Lives  up  to  its  title,  much  strenu- 
ous  adventure." 

San  Francisco  Bulletin:  "Thrilling  .  .  .  calculated  to  stir  the 
blood  of  the   most  jaded   fiction   reader." 

THE   CHINESE    PUZZLE 

By  Marion  Bower  and  Leon  M.  Lion. 

The  characters,  vitally  drawn,  are  gathered  at  a  great 
English  country  house,  and  include,  in  the  group  of  brilliant 
worldlings,  a  Chinese  Ambassador,  wise,  loyal,  and  finally — ? 
There  is  a  secret  treaty,  crime,  intrigue  and  sparkling  talk. 
$1.60. 

New  York  Times:  "  That  all  too  rare  literary  product,  an  absorb- 
ing  mystery    tale." 

THE   HAPPY   YEARS 

By  Inez  Haynes  Irwin.  The  third  of  the  "  Phoebe  and 
Ernest"  Series.    $1.60. 

The  author's  response  to  the  request  that  she  tell  what 
happened  to  Phoebe  and  Ernest  when  they  grew  up.  We  here 
see  each  of  them  married,  with  children  of  their  own,  and  with 
delightful  friends,  and  perhaps  the  happiest  of  all  are 
grandfather  and  grandmother  Martin.  The  life  of  them  all  is 
rich  with  responsibility,  friendship,  love,  sorrow  and  happi- 
ness. 

New  York  Evening  Post:  "  Has  as  much  humor,  truth,  and  appeal- 
ing warmth    as  any   of   its  predecessors." 

Boston  Evening  Transcript:  "What  marks  Mrs.  Irwin's  work  is 
her   ability  to  catch   the  mood   of   the  average   American." 

HENRY      HOLT      AND      COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS  (vi  'x»)  NEW  YORK 


AT   FAME'S   GATEWAY 

THE   ROMANCE   OF   A    PIANISTE 

By  Jennie  Irene  Mix.    $1.75. 

An  often  humorous  story  of  the  adventures  of  a  beautiful 
American  girl  from  an  oil-boom  town,  in  search  of  musical 
fame  in  New  York,  where  she  meets  interesting  people  in 
musical  and  Bohemian  circles,  including  the  great  teacher 
Brandt  (who  hides  a  secret),  his  masterful  Bohemian  house- 
keeper, Novak  a  fascinating  violinist,  and  Stanhope,  a  very 
dependable  novelist.  The  viewpoint  throughout  is  fresh,  and 
the  outcome  cannot  be  foreseen  by  the  reader,  especially  as  to 
how  the  heroine  will  succeed  in  both  love  and  music.  The 
characters  are  an  unusually  likable  lot,  not  the  amorous 
freaks  that  novelists  have  too  often  pictured  musicians  as 
being. 

THE   GIRL  FROM    FOUR   CORNERS 

A    CALIFORNIA    ROMANCE 

By  Rebecca  N.  Porter.    $1.75. 

An  inspiring  story  of  a  girl's  struggle  between  the  evil  in- 
fluence of  her  father  and  the  benign  one  of  her  mother,  told 
in  action,  which  contains  much  of  the  unexpected.  We  begin 
with  Fredrica's  girlhood  on  a  lonely  ranch.  Later,  still  alone, 
she  faces  the  vicissitudes  of  San  Francisco.  The  gaiety  of 
that  metropolis  is  well  indicated.  Strange  to  say,  the  heroine 
comes  the  nearest  to  disaster  from  pity  for  one  who  needs 
her. 

THE   UNCENSORED    LETTERS 
OF  A   CANTEEN   GIRL 

ANONYMOUS  ga.oo 

The  only  book  of  its  kind  so  far  produced  by  the  Great 
War.  A  remarkably  sympathetic  and  fresh  account  of 
A.  E.  F.  happenings  by  an  unpracticed  writer.  She  gives  us 
the  ingenuous  joys  and  sorrows,  the  jokes,  squabbles  and 
loves  of  our  own  great-hearted  Yanks,  mostly  when  they 
were  not  fighting  but  occasionally  when  they  were.  Her 
understanding  both  of  officers  and  men  seems  equally  clear 
and  sympathetic. 

HENRY       HOLT      AND       COMPANY 

19    W.    44TH    ST.  (ii  '20)  NEW  YORK 


THE   LIGHT    HEART 

By  Maurice  Hewlett.     $2.00. 

Hewlett  has  never  done  anything  more  brilliant  than 
this  northern  story  of  adventure  in  which  the  epic  starkness 
of  the  plot,  drawn  from  the  Iceland  sagas,  is  softened  by  the 
humanity  of  a  gentler  day.  The  result  is  a  surprising  com- 
bination of  thrilling  narrative  and  delicate  characterization, 
seldom  to  be  matched  in  literature. 

THE    BLACK   KNIGHT 

By  Mrs.  Alfred  Sidgwick  and  Crosbie  Garstin.    $2.00. 

A  young  Englishman  is  involved  in  the  financial  ruin  and 
disgrace  of  his  father,  and  emigrates  to  Western  Canada. 
At  first  a  penniless  laborer,  he  eventually  makes  a  fortune, 
after  many  humorous  adventures  strongly  reminiscent  of 
Owen  Wister's  "  Virginian."  Finally  he  returns  to  Paris, 
where  he  finds  the  girl  of  his  choice  in  the  clutches  of  schem- 
ing relatives,  and  then .    A  fascinating  up-to-date  romance. 

TRUE    LOVE 

By  Allan  Monkhouse,  Literary  Editor  of  the  Manchester 
Guardian.    $1.75. 

This  novel  deals  with  the  spiritual  struggles  of  a  young 
playwright,  torn  between  his  love  for  a  woman  and  his  love 
of  country  at  one  of  the  great  moments  of  the  world's  history. 
No  more  gallant  struggle  was  ever  made,  and  Monkhouse's 
handling  of  it  is  worthy  of  a  high  place  in  contemporary 
fiction.  The  picture  given  of  the  dramatic  and  literary  life  in 
Manchester  is  of  particular  interest. 

CAPE  CURREY 

By  Rene  Juta.    $1.75. 

This  remarkable  historical  novel,  which  is  also  a  first  novel, 
tells  one  of  the  strangest  stories  which  has  seen  the  light,  even 
in  these  wonder-loving  days.  Many  of  the  characters  have 
descendants  playing  their  parts  now  on  the  British  imperial 
stage.  But  the  strange  figure  of  Dr.  James  Barry  has  only 
old  wives'  tales  and  this  novel  for  memorial.  The  mysterious 
garden  is  likewise  no  fiction,  Sir  Charles  Somerset  being 
credited  with  the  foundation  of  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the 
Cape  Province. 

HENRY       HOLT      AND      COMPANY 

19  W.  44TH  St.  (iii  '20)  NEW  YORK 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 

Fully  illustrated  with  original  maps  and  sketches 

By  Likut-Col.  JENNINGS  C.  WISE,  author  of  "The  Long  Arm  of 
Lee."  "  Gunnery."  "  Empire  and  Armament,"  etc.,  etg.    $2.00 

To  what  extent  were  the  great  German  reverses  of  the  summer  of 
19 18  due  to  American  military  prowess?  What  were  Cantigny  and 
Chateau-Thierry  from  the  military  standpoint?  And  how  much  help 
did  Foch  get  from  the  Americans  at  the  Second  Marne?  Such  are 
the  questions  to  answer  which  Colonel  Wise  has  written  the  "  Turn  of 
the  Tide."  Fresh  from  France  and  the  Historical  Section  of  the 
General  Staff  at  Chaumont,  Colonel  Wise  is  the  first  writer  to  return  to 
this  country  fully  equipped  to  discuss  with  authority  our  share  in  the 
war  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  battalion  commander  who  saw  much 
action  and  as  an  Army  Historian. 

FIRST  REFLECTIONS  ON  THE 
CAMPAIGN  OF  1918 

By  R.  M.   JOHNSTON,  author  of  "  The  French  Revolution."  "Leading 
American  Soldiers,"  "  Napoleon,"  etc,    $1.50. 

In  undertaking  to  offer  constructive  criticism  of  our  combat  army 
in  France,  Major  Johnston  does  not  speak  without  authority.  He  was 
attached  to  the  General  Staff  at  Pershing's  Headquarters  for  twelve 
months  or  more.  During  this  period  he  made  a  number  of  intimate 
visits  to  the  active  fronts,  and  was  also  special  envoy  to  Paris  and 
London  on  one  occasion.  Thus  he  was  able  to  get  a  perspective  on  the 
activities  of  our  war  machine  without  being  detached  from  it  and 
without  a  sacrifice  of  the  detailed  knowledge  which  comes  from  per- 
sonal contact.  He  sees  the  war  whole  and  retains  an  unusual  breadth 
of  point  of  view. 

"  SIMSADUS-LONDON  " 

AT  U.    S.    NAVAL   HEADQUARTERS   ABROAD 

By  J.  L.  LEIGHTON.    With  numerous  illustrations  from  actual  photo- 
graphs, and  picture  jacket.    $4.00. 

The  facts  and  information  offered  in  this  book  have  a  most  opportune 
interest  as  they  throw  light  on  the  Naval  affairs  now  receiving  so  much 
public  and  official  attention.  The  author's  close  personal  contact  with 
conditions  at  the  various  Naval  bases,  his  relations  with  the  staff  in 
London  and  his  active  service  on  the  ships  of  which  he  writes,  vouch 
for  the  authenticity  of  his  work. 

ARMY   MENTAL  TESTS 

By  CLARENCE  S.  YOAKUM  and  ROBERT  M,  YERKES,  of  the 
National  Research  Council.     Illustrated.    $150. 

Authorized  by  the  War  Department,  this_  book  provides  for  business 
men  an  account  of  a  great  achievement  in  scientific  management  whereby 
the  United  States,  employing  suddenly  four  million  soldiers,  found  the 
right  men   for  the  right  places. 

HENRY       HOLT      AND       COMPANY 

19  W.  44  St.  (II  'ao)  NEW   YORK 


,  .  dc nnNAL  LIBRARY  f*        '' 
..     ,.   nil     III  I  I    III 


A  A      000  066  451    6 


